Should women be allowed to play the British Open?

I am penning this column knowing that when my wife and, worst still, my mother reads it they will undoubtedly take umbrage with my view and give it to me with both barrels.

However, it won’t change my position that women should not be allowed to play in the British Open – the oldest and most treasured of all the men’s major championships. That’s right ... men’s major championships.

The thought of a woman teeing up against men in a bid for the Auld Claret Jug would send Old Tom Morris and his contemporaries into a collective grave spin. But the day is closer than you think.

The Royal & Ancient Club of St Andrews, which organises the 145-yearold championship, has been conducting discussions behind closed doors about re-wording the conditions of entry for the British Open.

R&A Chief Executive Peter Dawson said the current rules state the tournament is open to “any male professional or male amateur golfer whose playing handicap does not exceed scratch.”

He said a rule change to take out the word “male” was “under
consideration by the Royal & Ancient Championship Committee”.

“Not that I want to see the Open as a dual-sex event because golf at the elite level is not being played like that,” Mr Dawson said. “That wording was put in place at a time when it was never thought that women would want
to enter. But the R&A is not in the business of keeping women out of the Open,” Mr Dawson said.

This proposed rule change could turn one of golf’s great events into a circus where the winner would play second ? ddle to an off beat news story.

Look at the history of women playing in men’s golf tournaments thus far. Who could forget Annika Sorenstam’s teary departure from the PGA Tour’s Bank of America Colonial tournament in 2003? Or teenage sensation
Michelle Wie nearly making the cut at the Sony Open last year?

Unforgettable publicity stunts I say. The motive of the sponsors and promoters of both events, in extending invitations to both women, was for nothing more than pushing their product. Sorenstam and Wie generated double the number of TV viewers for both tournaments and we all know that equates to big dollars for the sponsors, promoters and TV networks.

For the record, does anyone remember who actually won the 2003 Colonial and 2004 Sony Open? It was Kenny Perry and Ernie Els respectively.

The R&A does not need to go to such lengths to encourage spectators, TV viewers or sponsors. The great attraction is the event itself.

Allowing a woman to play the British Open will surely see the earth tremble in the St Andrews cemetery … may Old Tom rest in peace.

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