Royal St George's votes in women

An end to the Open Championship being staged at clubs with a male-only membership policy is in sight after English golf club Royal St George’s voted to allow women members.

Royal St George's votes in women

Darren Clarke won the Open at Royal St George's in 2011.

An end to the Open Championship being staged at clubs with a male-only membership policy is in sight after English golf club Royal St George’s voted to allow women members.

Along with Muirfield and Royal Troon, Royal St George’s had been one of the three courses on the Open rota to have a male-only policy, but that has changed with immediate effect following a recent vote.

A statement from the club read: “The Royal St George’s Golf Club is pleased to announce that, following an extraordinary general meeting held on 14th February 2015 and a subsequent ballot of the full members of the club, a resolution to alter the club’s rules to make ladies eligible for membership has been duly passed.

“Under the club’s rules, the resolution would only be passed if it obtained the support of three-quarters of the votes cast on the ballot. More than 81 per cent of the full members took part in the ballot and a decisive 90 per cent voted in favour of ladies being eligible for membership.

“The alteration of the club’s rules has immediate effect and the club looks forward to welcoming ladies as junior and full members.”

Royal St George’s, which last staged the Open in 2011 when it was won by Darren Clarke, has no plans to “fast-track” women into the club and said that they will have to join the waiting list in the usual manner. However, girls may be able to join the junior section more quickly.

Muirfield, which is owned and run by The Honourable Company of Edinburgh Golfers, is reviewing its membership criteria. It told the Press Association on Wednesday that consultation with members was ongoing and a spring review of the information gathered remained on schedule.

Troon has always considered itself a special case as it shares facilities with the Ladies Golf Club, Troon.

However, the club announced in January its intention to undertake a “comprehensive review” of its membership policy while also stating it will share the responsibility of hosting the Open in 2016 with the Ladies’ Club, with the formation of a joint Championship Committee.

Royal Troon captain Bob Martin said at the time: ”Royal Troon Golf Club has hosted the Open on eight occasions since 1923 and in 2016 we will share this responsibility with The Ladies’ Golf Club, Troon as joint hosts of the 145th Open Championship.

”The clubs enjoy a close working relationship and we look forward to hosting a successful Open here in 2016.”

In a statement, Troon said it will ”undertake a comprehensive review to consider the most appropriate membership policy for the future”, adding: ”The recommendations from this review will be presented to the membership for their consideration.”

Scrutiny of the clubs intensified after the Royal and Ancient Golf Club of St Andrews voted to end its 260-year-old male-only membership policy in September.

The Open will be staged at Royal Birkdale in 2017, Carnoustie in 2018 and Portrush in 2019.

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