It's a 'Yes' vote in Scotland -- to allow women to join St. Andrews golf club
For 260 years, the Royal and Ancient Golf Club in St. Andrews, Scotland has been a mens-only bastion. Today its members voted to allow women to join. Former British pro golf champion Vivien Saunders, who has been pushing for the change for years, calls the ballot results "marvellous."...
For 260 years, the Royal and Ancient Golf Club in St. Andrews, Scotland has been a mens-only bastion. Today its members voted to allow women to join. Former British pro golf champion Vivien Saunders, who has been pushing for the change for years, calls the ballot results "marvellous."
"I'm delighted," she tells Carol. "I was just so thrilled."
About three-quarters of the club's members took part in the ballot and 85 percent voted "yes."
Saunders is not too concerned about the 15 percent who voted "no."
"It's a bit silly, isn't it?" she says. "There'll always be people who will vote against equality, I suppose . . . There are going to be, obviously, some grumpy, old men."
St. Andrews is not the only exclusively-male club in the UK. But, Saunders explains, the Royal is different because it also governs the sport worldwide, save for in the United States and Mexico.
That meant that when Saunders finished her professional career and wanted to return to playing as an amateur she had to go "cap in hand" to the Royal and Ancient Club.
"I found that offensive," she says. "They shouldn't have any control over somebody who is not a member. They have a lot of influence over people's careers and have certainly ruined my life, in some ways, with their stupid rules."
Sweden's Annika Sorenstam playing at the Royal and Ancient Golf Club in 2007. Women will now be admitted to the club as voting members. (AP/Matt Dunham)
Saunders says she has no desire to join the club. She is a member of a women's club that is allowed to play at St. Andrews.
"It would be an unnecessary expense and, who knows, I might apply and not get in and then I'd be really offended," she says. 'But the people who are invited to join, I think it will be brilliant."