PHILLIP ALLEN MOVES TO LONDON AND INTO THE ROLE OF PRESIDENT OF MARINE & LAWN HOTELS & RESORTS , PREPARED TO GROW A COLLECTION OF GOLF RESORTS ACROSS THE U . K . AND EVENTUALLY BEYOND .
by JEFF WEINSTEIN , EDITOR IN CHIEF
Rusacks Hotel at the Old Course in St Andrew , Scotland
DEFINING MOMENT AJ Capital didn ’ t really set out to jump into niche golf resorts , but when negotiating deals with Macdonald Hotels for Graduate hotels in Oxford and Cambridge , England , Allen toured their hotel at St Andrews and fell in love .
“ I just fell in love standing on the balcony of the roof at St Andrews , overlooking the eighteenth green and the first hole of the Old Course ,” Allen says . “ Beyond that is West
Sands beach used for the opening theme of ‘ Chariots of Fire .’ I just got chills .”
When Allen suggested to creative and opportunistic AJ Capital Founder Ben Weprin that they should buy St Andrews , he agreed . “ Once we decided to go all in with Rusacks as what we hope will become the world ’ s greatest golf hotel , we started looking around the United Kingdom and noticed that there were other opportunities
Newly renovated Marine Troon hotel is set to come back online in the next month
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