Muirfield pulled from British Open rotation after vote against female members
R&A is moving away from hosting The Open Championship at Muirfield because the course's members failed to vote that women could join its club
By
Kyle Porter
•
1 min read
Phil Mickelson might have won the last British Open played at Muirfield for a while. The R&A announced on Thursday that it will not return to Muirfield anytime soon because the Honourable Company of Edinburgh Golfers (which runs Muirfield) recently voted against admitting women as members.
The R&A released the following statement Thursday morning:
"We have consistently said that it is a matter for the Honourable Company to conduct a review of its membership policy and that we would await their decision. The R&A has considered today's decision with respect to The Open Championship. The Open is one of the world's great sporting events and going forward we will not stage the Championship at a venue that does not admit women as members.
"Given the schedule for staging The Open, it would be some years before Muirfield would have been considered to host the Championship again. If the policy at the club should change we would reconsider Muirfield as a venue for The Open in future."
The vote against admitting women members was narrow, apparently. A two-thirds majority was needed, and 64 percent voted in favor of it happening. Unfortunately, that wasn't enough. And the prevailing attitude of some members was, uh, odd.
A small group of the Honourable Company signed a letter that stated the following.
"Change must come slowly and for choice should be evolutionary. A traditional resistance to change is one of the foundations of our unique position in golf and our reputation. In the last two-and-a-half years, there has been a considerable effort to consider the question whether to admit lady members - a prospect which may not previously have been on the agenda or even contemplated. It would appear to have been prompted largely by media and political comment at the time of the 2013 Open."
The Open was played at Muirfield in 1992, 2002 and 2013 (when Mickelson won).
