Turnberry May Not Be Ready for the Open Championship

by Ryan Ballengee on Apr 27, 2009 12:39 PM EDT Comment 9 comments

Looking at Twitter this morning, I saw a link posted with a message wondering if Turnberry would be ready to host the Open Championship in July. Last I had paid attention to Peter Dawson was when he had the press conference to announced the 250 yards or so of added length at Turnberry for the tournament last held at the site in 1994.

What I failed to notice was that there is a nasty rumor going around that Leisurecorp - owner of Turnberry Resort - may not be making enough progress on their five star Westin hotel to finish it by the time the Open rolls into town. And, further more, if they don't finish the hotel and clean up nice in time, that Royal Troon is ready, willing, and able to host the Open.

Turnberry Hotel under renovation

The CBC caught this as well and mentioned it in their report.

Organizers dismissed speculation that nearby Royal Troon, which also hosts Open championships, is on standby to stage this year's tournament because of delayed renovation of the five-star Turnberry Hotel, which overlooks the links.

"We are quite satisfied that the hotel will be ready to serve as the headquarters for competitors," said David Hill, the Royal & Ancient's director of championships. "We are in constant touch with [Turnberry owners] Leisurecorp and are assured it will be ready in time."

According to the Turnberry Resort website, Leisurecorp is taking reservations for public use of the hotel starting the week after the Open Championship.

Now, my day job is as a project manager. I can tell you from firsthand experience that projects rarely finish on time or ahead of time. Often, they are either or both late and cost more than your customer expects. There are a lot of factors involved, but I wonder how close Leisurecorp is cutting their deadline against the Open Championship. I hope they have plenty of wiggle (not waggle) room!

0 recs | Comment 9 comments | Share

Story-email Email Printer Print

Comments

Clean up is easy...

…and I guess they didn’t notice that the resort connected to the WGC Accenture Match Play wasn’t anywhere near complete and there wasn’t a single shot that was affected. Turnberry will be ready – hotel or nott.

"this ball will fit in that fairway"

by courtgolf on Apr 27, 2009 12:56 PM EDT reply actions 0 recs

taking a second look at this picture – I could save a TON of time – let the contractors park their trucks closer to the hotel ! That’s a long walk to get tools and parts !! :-)

"this ball will fit in that fairway"

by courtgolf on Apr 27, 2009 12:57 PM EDT up reply actions 0 recs

I think the only thing in the rumor is that the hotel was supposed to be player housing. I would presume Leisurecorp would scramble to find alternative housing rather than be publicly embarrassed.

by Ryan Ballengee on Apr 27, 2009 1:19 PM EDT up reply actions 0 recs

I’m thinking that that looks like a much bigger hotel than 150 rooms – add half that number for special requests requests and it’s still bigger than 225 rooms. Take out for the top guys who rent houses and locals who don’t need rooms and you’re well under 200 rooms. Get those ready – get the lobby ready – get the kitchen and dining rooms ready – and you’re good to go.

Dollars to doughnuts – they’ll be ready.

"this ball will fit in that fairway"

by courtgolf on Apr 27, 2009 1:23 PM EDT up reply actions 0 recs

I think so, too. But, ya never know :)

by Ryan Ballengee on Apr 27, 2009 2:29 PM EDT up reply actions 0 recs

In 1990-

With all the controversy over Shoal Creek and its membership policies, the PGA of America tentatively approached Jack Nicklaus and Muirfield Village to discuss the feasibility of the course holding that year’s PGA Championship. Remember Muirfield Village was the site of the 1987 Ryder Cup matches.

by Bill Jempty on Apr 27, 2009 2:25 PM EDT reply actions 0 recs