Trump Buying Turnberry

Donald Trump has announced that he will be buying Turnberry, the famous links course and accompanying resort on the west coast of Scotland. The facility has been the site of four British Opens.

Terms of the deal were not announced. But the Independent in London reported that Trump paid Dubai-based Leisurecorp just over $63 million - 37.5 million pounds.

Trump, the New York City-based real-estate magnate, who has made several prominent golf acquisitions of late, has no plans to alter the links course, which last hosted the 2009 Open Championship, when Stewart Cink beat fellow American and sentimental favorite, Tom Watson, in a playoff.

"I'm not going to touch a thing unless the Royal & Ancient ask for it or approve it," Trump told golf.com. "I have the greatest respect for the R&A and for (chief executive) Peter Dawson. I won't do anything to the golf course at all without their full stamp of approval.

"It is an honor and privilege to own one of golf's greatest and most exciting properties," added Trump, who said he would invest "many millions of dollars" into the hotel to help make it one of the most luxurious in Europe.

One of Trump's trademarks for his golf properties is to have his name in the title. He told golf.com that Trump Turnberry "has a nice ring to it," but a timeline for that change hasn't been determined.

"Turnberry has been called other things before with previous owners," Dawson told The Independent. "But it's engraved as Turnberry on the (claret) jug, and I'd imagine will remain so."

Recent additions to Trump's golf portfolio include Doral in Miami, and Doonbeg in Ireland. He recently unveiled his much-heralded Trump International Golf Links Ireland near Aberdeen, and is finishing up construction on the all-new Trump Golf Links at Ferry Point in New York.

On April 30, the PGA of America announced that Trump National Golf Club in Bedminster, N.J., will host the 2022 PGA Championship, and that Trump National Golf Club - Washington, D.C., will host the 2017 Senior PGA Championship.

"Certainly when you have courses, when you get acknowledged to have one of the majors ... having the PGA is a very, very big deal," said Trump, who owns 17 golf properties worldwide. "So it's very important to me. It's a great honor for me and it's a tremendous honor for both of those clubs."

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