Royal Dornoch gives up hosting Men's Home International after event is postponed
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Royal Dornoch Golf Club turned down the chance to host the Men’s Home Internationals Championship rearranged for September.
The Sutherland Links was offered the opportunity to remain the host of the event in the autumn after the original date in April was postponed.
But the course turned down the opportunity to stage the event in September due to a high number of bookings at that time.
The R&A announced that due to the pandemic, it would not be able to organise the competition at Dornoch between April 14 and 16.
Club general manager Neil Hampton says the postponement came as no surprise when the announcement was made on Wednesday. Despite being offered the chance to host the event between September 15 to 17, they turned it down.
“Any other year we would have been disappointed, but at this particular time we just have to roll with what comes forward,” he said.
“We were still offered to host it, but in September our tee sheets are full.
“We did a lot of work to get the event in April when we were approached last year. Our tee sheets opens up from 12 to 18 months in advance.
“In the back end of the year is when things are likely to get back closer to normal and when people will take holidays and have games of golf.
“We’ve got full tee sheets with members and visitors at that time. It would be a difficult task to contact all these people and refund them.”
However, Royal Dornoch has been selected as one of the venues for the Tartan Pro Tour in 2021.
The course will welcome top professional golfers from throughout Scotland for the two-day tournament on Monday, April 26 and Tuesday, April 27.
Hampton says it is a huge coup for the golf club given the success of hosting the tour last year.
“As the Tartan Pro Tour is professional golf, there is more leeway to allow them to take part in sport,” said Hampton.
“While it is not 100 per cent certain just now, we are reasonably confident that we will be able to see them in April.”
