R&A to Vote on Allowing Women Members into Club for First Time

The Royal & Ancient Golf Club could be on verge of a revolutionary change as they revealed they will ask their members to vote in favor of allowing women to join for the first time.

A statement from the R&A on Wednesday said the club will vote in September on a motion to admit female members. The club’s committees are in favor of the rule changes and are asking the 2,4000 members to support it.

Wilson Sibbett, the chairman of the R&A’s general committee, states in the letter to existing members: “Now is the time to ask members of the Royal and Ancient Golf Club to welcome female members into the club.”

In a separate statement, an R&A spokesman said: “Members of The Royal and Ancient Golf Club of St Andrews, the founding club of The R&A, will vote on a motion to admit women as members. The club’s committees are strongly in favour of the rule change and are asking members to support it.”

The R&A has come under increasing pressure in recent years to change its male-only policy, especially after Augusta National Golf Club last year invited two women to join at the home of the Masters. The British Open last year was held at Muirfield, which also has a male-only membership policy.