Tokyo governor implores 2020 Olympic golf host club to admit women
Yet again, golf faces a conflict over a high-profile club and its membership practices.
Kasumigaseki Country Club will host the men’s and women’s Olympic golf tournaments during the 2020 Olympic Games in Tokyo. The problem is that the club doesn’t admit women as full members. It’s a practice Tokyo governor Yuriko Koike would like to see changed. She has asked the club personally to admit female members.
“I feel very uncomfortable about women not being able to become a regular member in this era,” Koike said Friday, according to Reuters.
Women are also reportedly banned from playing at the club on Sundays — which seems an obvious optics problems considering Olympic medals will be on the line for women, perhaps on a Sunday, at the course.
This is the second time in the space of two years that a prominent golf club has come under fire for choosing not to admit women as full members. In May 2016, the male-only membership of Muirfield in Scotland — whose membership is formally called The Honorable Company of Edinburgh Golfers — fell short of the super majority required to change its ban on women members. As a result, the R&A removed the club from the British Open rotation. A new vote on changing the policy is set for sometime in 2017.
Ryan Ballengee is a Yahoo Sports contributor. Find him on Facebook and Twitter.
