Could Kingsbarns host an Open?

[Joe_Hatley]

This question has been gnawing at me since I played Kingsbarns last year.  I think it has (or could acquire temporarily) the space needed for all the merchandising tents, etc., and the access is certainly no worse than at, say, Muirfield.

The real question is whether the course is worthy of an Open.  I say it is, despite its lack of pedigree and the fact that it is largely manufactured.  It's certainly no weaker from an overall architectural standpoint than Turnberry or Troon, it has some holes with character, and could provide a strong test, particularly given that the R&A is not as obsessed with par as the USGA.

Thoughts?

[Brad Klein]

Weak finishing hole! And 17th green is unfair.

Oooops, wrong course in Fife.

[PThomas]

very good Brad

was Portrush the last time a course was "added" to the rota???

[Joe_Hatley]

Turnberry was added in 1977.

I'm not sure when Royal Aberdeen last hosted one of the R&A's major open tournaments, at least until this week.

[mike_beene]

It obviously probably won't,but I think it would be perfect.Close to St Andrews,east coast weather,looks like Turnberry but isn't Turnberry more eye candy than compelling golf.It has a better view of Carnoustie than you get at Carnoustie.

[Doug Siebert]

Bah.  If they are looking for new venues, what is wrong with Ballybunion or Lahinch?  Yes, those are in Ireland, but if the "British" Open can be mostly in Scotland, Ireland isn't too far of a stretch and hopefully any worries one might have had about IRA type issues would be a thing of the past now.  One thing is for sure, its very unlikely they'd have four completely benign weatherless days in a row like they've had for the last two Opens at TOC if they had it on Ireland's western coast!!

And if you want eye candy that puts Turnberry and Kingsbarns to shame, stage it at Old Head.  Just make the gallery sign waivers so the several dozen who fall to their deaths off the cliffs won't have their next of kin making claims against the R&A

[Tim_Weiman]

Doug,

In fact, the four days of the 2000 Irish Open held at Ballybunion were each as benign as I've ever seen!

Anyway, given how much of a struggle it was reaching agreement to host this event, I strongly doubt one could ever get the club to host the British Open.

The key sticking point was how many people would be let on the course. Ballybunion wanted to limited the total to around 3-5,000. Murphy's, the sponsor, asked for about 12,000, if I recall correctly.

In the end, there were unconfirmed reports of around 15,000 for the weekend......and as the opponents of hosting the event were forced to concede, things turned out fine. Damage to the sand hills was really quite limited.

Still, an event much larger, would be too big for Ballybunion, in my opinion.

[ForkaB]

Kingsbarns is good enough to host an Open, but so are 20+ other courses in GBI.  It does have in it's favor the fact that it is long and extendable, and that the R&A has a financial interest in the venture.  That being said, I really doubt it will ever hit the rota, as the punters who fund the Open will not really want to spend 4-days in a somnolent village with one pub and no "Ye Olde Gowf Shoppe"s.

[Jonathan Davison]

I recently asked this question to a R&A guy during a lecture. He said the R&A had no plans to include Kingsbarn but he could not rule it out for the future.