McIlroy still has a bad taste about Muirfield

LONDON: Muirfield golf club may have scrapped its all-male policy and been welcomed back into the Open Championship rotation, but world number three Rory McIlroy said on Wednesday he is not ready to toast a new era.

The Northern Irishman, speaking a day after Muirfield voted to admit women members, remained critical of the years women were denied membership and did not sound like he would be changing his opinion anytime soon.

“We’ll go back there for The Open Championship at some point, and I won’t be having many cups of tea with the members afterwards,” McIlroy, 27, said.

Muirfield had a male-only membership policy since the Honourable Company of Edinburgh Golfers, which controls the course, was founded in 1744.

Women are allowed to play at Muirfield, but an initial ballot to allow women members failed in May last year when only 64 percent voted in favour.

But centuries of discrimination ended when the necessary two-thirds majority had been reached, with 80.2 percent of members voting in favour of change on Tuesday.

The R&A, the body that organises The Open Championship, then declared Muirfield back on its list of eligible courses, having said last year it would not stage the tournament at a venue that did not admit female members.

“I still think that it got to the stage, this stage, is horrendous,” said McIlroy, pictured, a four-times major winner who won the 2014 Open at Royal Liverpool.

“And yeah, I mean, we’ll go back and we’ll play the Open Championship, because they will let women members in, but every time I go to Muirfield now I won’t have a great taste in my mouth.”

Muirfield has hosted the Open 16 times, most recently in 2013 when it was won by American Phil Mickelson.

Meanwhile, emotions will run high at the Arnold Palmer Invitational this week as golfers pay tribute to seven-times major champion Palmer who died last year as they hone their games for next month’s US Masters.

Given this is the first Palmer Invitational since one of golf’s greatest players died at the age of 87 in September, many expected a stellar field but world number one Dustin Johnson, Jordan Spieth and Phil Mickelson are among those skipping the tournament.

Defending champion Jason Day, McIlroy, Hideki Matsuyama and Open champion Henrik Stenson are, however, among the big names taking part.

“There’s not a player out here who doesn’t respect Arnie, everybody loved him,” Briton Ian Poulter, who received a sponsor’s exemption into the event, told Golf World.

“The course might not suit everybody’s eye and because of that some guys might not play. What’s also difficult is it’s a busy calendar.” – Reuters