Muirfield set to allow women members at last after second ballot

GOOD old democracy eh? Keep on voting until you get the right result … depending on what your view of the right result is, of course.

If the Honourable Company of Edinburgh Golfers at Muirfield wanted to hide away the results of their second ballot on allowing female members then they’ve picked quite a good week.

A second referendum on Scottish independence in the pipeline, Rangers unveiling their new manager, an imminent announcement of a new president at the Crookston booling club? It’s all happening.

By the time you read this – assuming you don’t read the paper until just after 11.30am – a ‘yes’ vote for female membership at another male golfing bastion in the game’s cradle should have been announced.

It’s almost 10 months now since Henry Fairweather, the Muirfield captain, delivered the news that the original vote had failed to achieve the required two thirds majority by a mere 14 votes.

The club was lambasted from tee to green the world over while the game’s governing body, the Royal & Ancient, immediately removed one of the world’s greatest courses from the Open Championship rota.

The reputational damage wrought on Muirfield and Scottish golf as a whole was considerable and a second vote was swiftly arranged as the scale of the hostility and embarrassment caused became apparent.

In these shifting times there is clearly an appetite for change at Muirfield and while some of the fustier sections of the membership will dig the heels in and resist, there is no doubt that the majority are keen to do the right thing. It’s never too late to.

Hosting an Open every 10 years or so is not the be all and end all for Muirfield. Many grumbling stalwarts probably see it as an almighty inconvenience but others prefer to look 200 Renfield Street, Glasgow G2 3QB. email: sport@theherald.co.uk. Tel 0141 302 6590 Head of Sport Stewart Weir at the wider implications, for East Lothian, Scotland and golf in general and today’s widely anticipated ‘aye’ vote should go some way to repairing the damage.

“The club committee believes that a clear and decisive vote in favour of admitting women as members is required to enable us to begin the task of restoring the reputation of the club that has been damaged by the earlier ballot outcome,” said Fairweather, upon confirming that there would be a second vote.