Muirfield Removed from the Open Venue Rotation After Voting to Remain Men-Only

Muirfield will no longer be considered to host The Open Championship by the Royal & Ancient after voting against allowing women to join the club.

ESPN.com reported that a vote by the Honourable Company of Edinburgh Golfers, which owns the Scottish club, failed to receive the necessary two-thirds majority to change the men-only status. As a result, the R&A has decided to remove it from the British Open rotation.  

The report included a statement from the Royal & Ancient, which handles the oldest major tournament, about the decision:

"

We have consistently said that it is a matter for the Honourable Company to conduct a review of its membership policy and that we would await their decision.

The R&A has considered today's decision with respect to The Open Championship. The Open is one of the world's great sporting events and going forward we will not stage the Championship at a venue that does not admit women as members.

Given the schedule for staging The Open, it would be some years before Muirfield would have been considered to host the Championship again. If the policy at the club should change we would reconsider Muirfield as a venue for The Open in future.

"

Rory McIlroy said the decision shows golf's "stuffy old image" and added his overall thoughts, per Joel Beall of Golf Digest:

"

It’s not right to host the biggest golf tournament at a club where women are not allowed. Hopefully, Muirfield will see some sense and we can get it back on the rota.

The damage to golf’s image is more important than us losing an Open course. We have such a strong ladies tour. We have the Olympics coming up, which is all about including everyone.

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BBC Sport noted the vote narrowly missed the threshold, as 64 percent of the 648 eligible members voted in favor of allowing women.

Martin Dempster of the Scotsman reported a coalition of "no" voters wrote a letter outlining concerns that included slow play and the potential for ladies to "feel uncomfortable." It offered a possible solution of creating a "lady-friendly" second course rather than allowing female members.

The letter added, "Our foursomes and speedy play would be endangered."

Muirfield has hosted The Open Championship 16 times dating back to 1892. The most recent instance came in 2013, when Phil Mickelson secured his only title in the event.

Based on the recent trend, which saw the course welcome the world's best golfers around once every decade, it wouldn't have been in line to host again for six or seven more years. As the R&A statement explained, that gives the group time to reverse its stance before more future venues are announced.

The 2016 tournament host, Royal Troon Golf Club, currently has separate clubs for men and women, an arrangement that ESPN noted is currently being reviewed by members.