Rory McIlroy slams Muirfield members who voted against female members proposal
Wednesday 15 March 2017 22:11, UK
World No 3 Rory McIlroy has called the decision of 20 per cent of Muirfield members to vote against a proposal to include women in the club "horrendous" and "obscene."
The Honourable Company of Edinburgh Golfers, which owns the Muirfield course, voted on Tuesday to admit women as members for the first time in Muirfield's history, but there were still 123 votes against the proposal from members.
The club had initially rejected the motion to allow women members in a May 2016 vote, a decision which saw the club immediately removed from consideration for hosting any future Open Championships by the R&A.
McIlory, who won the Open in 2014, insisted at the time that it was right Muirfield were dropped from the Open rota until the club reconsidered its membership policy, and he has now further criticised the club following the latest vote.
The results of a second ballot were announced by club captain Henry Fairweather on Tuesday, with 498 votes in favour and 123 votes against in a turnout of over 92 per cent of members eligible to vote.
"Muirfield wouldn't be one of my favourite Open rota courses, so no matter the decision yesterday, if it had been kept off The Open Championship rota, I wouldn't have been that unhappy," McIlory told the media ahead of the Arnold Palmer invitational.
"In this day and age where you've got women that are the leaders of certain industries and heads of state and not to be able to join a golf course? I mean, it's obscene. It's ridiculous."
The 27-year-old Northern Irishman, who has won four majors so far in his career, also insisted he wouldn't be mixing with Muirfield members in the future should the Open go back to the 2013 hosts.
"It's horrendous", McIlory added. "I don't get it. 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."
