The Loop

Turnberry's full 'Trump treatment' to include suite in iconic lighthouse

March 28, 2015

Stories of interest you might have missed…

"Turnberry is getting the full Trump treatment' as its billionaire owner bids to turn the Ayrshire resort into the jewel in his golfing crown," Martin Dempster writes in the Scotsman. "A raft of exciting' changes are to be made, both to the Ailsa Course and the hotel. Trump is even going to turn the iconic lighthouse into a Halfway House that will also incorporate a luxurious two-bedroomed suite for guests."

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Phil Mickelson used one of two annual exemptions to skip the pro-am at the Valero Texas Open and arrived into San Antonio on Wednesday night. He was coming from Augusta National. "Mickelson is 44 years old, toward the end of his prime, and this is a significant moment in his career. When Mickelson goes back to Augusta, he wants to be in position to win his fourth green jacket," columnist Buck Harvey of the San Antonio Express writes in this look at Mickelson's pre-Masters preparation that includes the Valero Texas Open.


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Much of the news surrounding Tiger Woods in the run-up to the Masters has focused on his short-game woes. Golf Monthly's Jeremy Ellwood has a Q&A with Chris DiMarco, the victim of one of Tiger's greatest short-game shots, on the 16th green of the last round in the 2005 Masters. "I was definitely not counting on that," DiMarco said. "And like he said in his interview afterwards, he was just trying to chip it inside me so he knew what he had to do. But great champions produce great things in the biggest moments, and that's what he did."


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The marquee star in the LPGA's Kia Classic this week is Michelle Wie, who has a Kia endorsement contract and appeared in a two-page ad for the tournament in U-T San Diego on Monday. "It's just that the splash isn't very well-timed for the current state of Wie's game, which has very literally been infirmed," Tod Leonard of the U-T writes. "Wie came down with strep throat and then a sinus infection. Feeling sick sucks, especially if you feel sick for a month,' Wie said. I feel a lot better, and I think I'm kind of hopefully getting over it now."


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"As he drank a glass of milk in the afterglow of that Pinehurst win - March 21, 1940, as meaningful a date as any in Hogan's career - you could sense the feeling of relief wash over him," Bill Fields writes at PGATour.com, in this look back at the 75th anniversary of Hogan's victory in the North and South that jump-started his career. "I won one just in time," Hogan said. "I had finished second and third so many times, I was beginning to think I was an also-ran. I needed that win. They've kidded me about practicing so much. I'd go out there before a round and practice, and when I was through, I'd practice some more. Well, they can kid me all they want because it finally paid off."