The Royal and Ancient, the governing body of golf’s oldest major championship, eliminated historic Muirfield from the British Open rota after the golf club voted against allowing women to join as members.
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“They can do what they want, but, in this day and age, it’s not right to host the world’s biggest tournament at a place that does not allow women to become members”, McIlroy said Thursday at the Irish Open, which he is hosting.
Scottish golf proved it is not quite ready to step into the modern sporting world Thursday when Muirfield lost its right to host the Open Championship due to its refusal to allow women to join as members.
The 85-year-old former Ryder Cup player was reacting to a vote on accepting women into the club, that narrowly failed to achieve the two-thirds majority required to bring about change. We had hoped that its lead would be followed by the other male-only clubs on the Open roster and, indeed, Royal St George’s has followed suit in the previous year and now Troon will have its own vote.
With Muirfield out, the only other British Open site that remains all-male is Royal Troon, which will host this year’s tournament in July.
Somewhere along the way, those 219 members at Muirfield Golf Club confused tradition with dogma.
“They lead golf on a world stage and they have a responsibility to general society not to condone it or to drift along as if it’s not happening”.
Responding to the news on Twitter, Sturgeon said: “Scotland has women leaders in every walk of life”.
“Muirfield may go ahead and say we want just be a small golf club and mind their own business and that’s fine, but minding their own business isn’t holding the Open is it?” said Harrington, who has twice competed in Muirfield Opens (2002, 2013).
“I believe clubs were formed years ago by people of like spirit: doctors, lawyers, accountants, bakers, butchers, whatever they like”.
The Royal & Ancient’s announcement comes four years after Augusta National, which hosts the Masters, admitted its first women amid pressure from media, activists and fans.
McIlroy supports the R&A’s decision, saying that, while Muirfield is a great course, there are plenty of others – Royal Porthcawl, Royal Cinque Ports, Royal Co.
Iain Gray, the Labour MSP for the club’s constituency of East Lothian, has now lodged a motion at the Scottish Parliament calling for the club to “consider the decision again”, while professional golfers said it suggested that Muirfield’s members were living in the wrong century.
“Let us just put the decision of Muirfield aside as a private club”.
“Of course they are right”.
Meanwhile, golf commentator Peter Alliss suggested women who want to join Muirfield should “get married to someone who’s a member”.
“To try and anticipate the results would be ill-advised, but I think that given the position of both Muirfield and the R&A that they will take it into account”.
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The four-time major victor, who is serving as host for this week’s Irish Open, hopes this acts as a wake-up call. I thought we were getting there with these sort of decisions so I’m really surprised.
