American Woods, who is now ranked 594 in the world, added last week: “I keep getting physically better”.
Advertisement
The Troon members had been due to hold the vote later in the year but revised that decision after the governing body R&A withdrew Muirfield’s name from the Open hosts list when its members voted not to admit women in May.
“Our focus today is very much on the 145th Open in just under two weeks’ time but we can now look forward to many more great Championships at Royal Troon in years to come”.
“I felt like Mr. Haverkamp out of Caddyshack trying to find his golf ball and not knowing where the golf hole goes”, Day said. “I just need to get healthy enough were I can do it on a regular basis”. Recovery from surgeries and a nagging back injury continue to sideline Woods, whose 14 major championships by 2008 made him a likely breaker of Jack Nicklaus’s record of 18.
Woods was replaced in the field by Marcus Fraser of Australia.
He last played in the Wyndham Championship last August and tied for 10th.
The 40-year-old has not competed in nearly 11 months and has offered no timetable on a possible return to action after undergoing back surgery last September.
South Korea’s Wang Jeung-hun matched McIlroy’s 66, and Thongchai Jaidee of Thailand – who was one stroke behind overnight leader Lucas Bjerregaard of Denmark – posted a 1-under 70 for a share of the lead.
In his absence, the “big three” of Jason Day, Jordan Spieth and Rory McIlroy will again be in the spotlight north of the border, although US Open champion Dustin Johnson is the form player heading into the year’s third major.
Defending champion Brooke Henderson and Sweden’s Suzann Pettersen share the lead at 11-under 133 after the second round of the Cambia Portland Classic. The other co-leaders, Mikko Ilonen of Finland and South African Brandon Stone, had 68s.
Organisers of the vote on Friday evening said Troon’s members “overwhelmingly” agreed to welcome women to the club.
Muirfield, the site of 16 British Opens, was stripped of the right to stage the event in the future after a vote by members of the Honourable Company of Edinburgh Golfers, which owns and operates the club, on allowing female members fell just short of the two-thirds majority required to pass. Sixty-four per cent of the club’s members voted in favour of admitting women.
The vote leaves Muirfield as the only links on the British Open rotation that has a male-only policy.
“We have said a number of times recently that it is important for golf clubs to reflect the society in which we exist and the modern world that looks to us”, said Martin Cheyne, the captain at Royal Troon.
Advertisement
The vote removes a potential distraction during the week of the Open.
