Royal & Ancient Golf Club of St. Andrews votes to admit female members
It only took 260 years.
On Thursday, the Royal & Ancient Golf Club of St. Andrews announced its membership has voted to allow female members. Peter Dawson, chief executive of the R&A, the governing body off-shoot of the club, said the club will fast-track membership for "a significant initial number" of women into the club.
"I am very pleased indeed to announce that the membership of the Royal and Ancient Golf Club of St Andrews has voted overwhelmingly in favor of welcoming women members," said Dawson, who is also the club's secretary, in a statement.
Over 75 percent of the estimated 2,400 members voted, many by a proxy ballot thought critical to secure the simple majority needed to pass this measure. Of those approximately 1,800 members that voted, over 1,500 did so in the affirmative. That means some 300 members said no with another 600 effectively saying no by not voting.
The club was founded in 1754. In 2004, the Royal & Ancient Golf Club of St. Andrews formed the body known today as The R&A, charging it with administering the Rules of Golf, running the Open Championship and other events and serving as the game's governing body outside of the United States and Mexico.
Reaction from this side of the Atlantic has been positive, if not with a slight foot-tapping tone.
In an unattributed statement, the LPGA said, "The LPGA is happy to hear that the members of the Royal & Ancient Golf Club in St. Andrews have voted to include female members. This decision is certainly a step in the right direction and one that better captures the current diversity and inclusiveness of our great game."
PGA of America president Ted Bishop applauded the decision, viewing the vote through the prism of a sagging golf industry.
"Women have played and will continue to play an integral role in the game of golf," Bishop said. "In fact, women represent the biggest growth market in the sport, and every step to make golf more inclusive is good for the game. The PGA of America is thrilled that the R&A is welcoming women into its organization, and loudly applauds its decision."
While the Royal & Ancient will now have male and female members, there are still three clubs in the Open Championship rota that are single-sex: Muirfield, which hosted the '13 Open; Royal Troon, which hosts in 2016; and Royal St. Georges Golf Club.
For its part, Troon, which has a 370-member ladies club that shares the property with the male-only club, reiterated it has no plans to integrate the two organizations.
"At present, membership of Royal Troon is open only to those of the male gender and we have no plans to change our constitution at this time, although I must point out that we are quite different from many of the other single-gender clubs in that we share our facilities with an active ladies’ club," said club secretary David Brown in a statement.
Ryan Ballengee is a Yahoo Sports contributor. Find him on Facebook and Twitter.
