Trump Reportedly Pressured US Ambassador to UK for British Open to Be Held at His Scottish Golf Course

Photo credit: Jeff J. Mitchell, Getty Images.

President Donald Trump pressured U.S. Ambassador to the U.K., Woody Johnson IV, to help his Scottish golf course become the host for an upcoming British Open, the most prestigious golf tournament held outside the United States.

According to a new story in the New York Times, back in 2018, Trump directly encouraged the former New York Jets owner Johnson to lobby the U.K. government for the right to host a British Open, which rotates locations every years, at Turnberry, the Scottish golf course he purchased in 2014.

“The ambassador’s deputy, Lewis A. Lukens, advised him not to do it, warning that it would be an unethical use of the presidency for private gain,” the Times reported. “But Mr. Johnson apparently felt pressured to try. A few weeks later, he raised the idea of Turnberry playing host to the Open with the secretary of state for Scotland, David Mundell.”

Because the British or Scottish governments would likely be providing security for any British Open held at a Trump property, the push for hosting one of golf’s four majors at Turnberry could be a violation of the Constitution’s emoluments clause.

Trump’s 2018 effort to get the high-profile tournament played at Turnberry came amid the course’s struggling financial situation. And it was roughly one year before Trump reportedly directed Vice President Mike Pence to house his U.S. delegation at another Trump resort in Ireland, even though the diplomatic event Pence was attending was on the other side of the country.

“The losses at the British resorts have come even after the family made costly investments to build or upgrade their courses, including $150 million at Turnberry,” the Times noted. “The most recent annual report for Turnberry shows it lost nearly $1 million, on $19 million in sales, in 2018.”