“If the policy at the club should change, we would reconsider Muirfield as a venue for The Open in future”. The proposal needed a two-thirds majority to pass, and the final vote came only to 66 percent in favor and 34 percent against.
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Two-time British Open champion Padriag Harrington backed the removal of Muirfield from the list of host clubs for golf’s oldest major tournament.
He said: “Muirfield’s one of the greatest golf courses in the world but the R&A have the greatest tournament in the world with the Open championship and their criteria for a golf club hosting the championship is that they have lady members”. “Hopefully, Muirfield will see some sense and we can get it back on the rota”.
“The R&A made the right decision”, McIlroy said.
In an interview with the Radio Times previous year, Alliss claimed that golf’s moves towards greater equality has ‘b****red up the game for a lot of people’. It’s taken long enough.
“The damage to golf’s image is more important than us losing an Open course”. But they must have known it was going to cause this controversy.
BBC News reported Thursday that Scotland’s Muirfield last hosted the British Open in 2013, which was won that year by Phil Mickelson. We see that here in Ireland ourselves.
But as for Muirfield, it doesn’t sound as though they’re going to make changes any time soon. Royal Troon Golf Club, which will host this year’s edition, is the only other club on the rotation to still exclude women.
Both clubs will shoulder the responsibility of hosting this year’s Open via a joint Championship committee and a “comprehensive review” of membership policy is to be carried out by the end of the year.
“We live in the 21st century, where men and women should be treated equally – whether that’s in the workplace, in the community or on the golf course”.
If Royal Troon eventually agrees, it will leave Muirfield as the only all-male club in the modern era to host The Open.
“I think everyone should have the opportunity to join a club if they want to”, he said.
Top golfers, including Open Championship winners Padraig Harrington, Darren Clarke, McIlroy and Scotland’s Paul Lawrie – were adamant that the men-only clubs need to change if they are to continue to attract the best European Tour events.
The results of the vote, conducted by the Honourable Company of Edinburgh Golfers, who run the course, were met with shock.
Henry Fairweather, captain of Muirfield, said the club had to follow the rules set by its members. In the years since, two British Open sites – St. Andrews and Royal St. George’s – have voted to admit women. “A traditional resistance to change is one that the foundations of our unique position in golf and out reputation”.
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The veteran golf commentator Peter Alliss has suggested that women who want to play at Muirfield should marry a member.
