It has been one of the biggest weeks at Trump International Links in Aberdeenshire since the course opened in 2012.
The Staysure PGA Seniors Championship, the flagship event on the Legends Tour, was held at the Dr Martin Hawtree-designed course to glowing reviews from the players.
Last week’s field included major champions Jose Maria Olazabal, Paul Lawrie and Michael Campbell and plenty of other players with illustrious golfing CVs and no shortage of victories on the main tours.
The unanimous verdict from the players was that the course at the Menie Estate near Balmedie is right up there with the best of them.
The players had the opportunity to see the course in pretty much all conditions over a very changeable week from benign and sunny when birdies were easier to come by to wet and windy when it became more about grinding out pars.
There was a more than decent turnout of spectators at Wednesday’s celebrity pro-am as well as the following four tournament days and they were given an up close and personal look at proceedings.
The galleries were allowed to walk on the fairways behind the players rather than being roped off and at the side of the action.
This gave the paying punters even more value for money last week as they were able to really appreciate the challenges faced by the players as they plotted their way around a demanding 18 holes with no shortage of trouble off the tee.
Eric Trump, who runs the Trump Organisation’s golf properties across the globe, told the Press and Journal earlier this month that he believes there is “probably no better venue on earth for a Ryder Cup.”
From the perspective of the players and television viewers, it would certainly be right up there. Of that there is no doubt.
It is the perfect type of links course for a match-play duel in the dunes and some of the holes are simply breathtaking.
But with former US President Donald Trump due to go on trial, even as he campaigns to become president again in the 2024 US election, it is difficult to envisage a major tournament such as a Ryder Cup or a Scottish Open coming to the Aberdeenshire links in the coming years.
Leaving politics aside, the challenge for any tournament director tasked with staging a bigger event at Trump International Links would be how to get the required number of spectators around the course.
The huge, dominating dunes around the course shape each golf hole spectacularly but leave little room for fans other than walking down the fairways.
This worked a treat at last week’s Legends Tour event but that wouldn’t be possible at a tournament containing the likes of Rory McIlroy, Jon Rahm and Scottie Scheffler.
More than 72,000 fans watched McIlroy pip Robert MacIntyre to victory at the Genesis Scottish Open at The Renaissance Club in East Lothian last month.
There were more than 65,000 when Royal Aberdeen held the Scottish Open nine years ago – and this was before the tournament was co-sanctioned with the PGA Tour to guarantee even more big names in the field.
A Ryder Cup would be an even greater undertaking – there were 250,000 spectators at Gleneagles for the week of the 2014 Ryder Cup.
Donald Trump was at the Aberdeenshire venue in May to cut the ceremonial ribbon that marked the start of work on the second course.
He said the MacLeod course “will be fit to host many of the great championships in the future” so it will be intriguing to see if it is constructed with additional areas set aside for spectators.
It remains to be seen whether bigger tournaments will be taken to Trump International Links in the future.
There are plenty of hurdles that will have to be overcome.
But the rave reviews from the senior pros who teed it up at the PGA Seniors Championship is a reminder of this spectacular course that was created on our doorstep little more than a decade ago.
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