THE Pragmatic Company of Edinburgh Golfers does not have much of a ring to it, nor would we dream of suggesting it should replace the title of the venerable body that runs the club at Muirfield.
However, yesterday’s welcome decision by the Honourable Company of Edinburgh Golfers to admit women members for the first time in the club’s 273-year history might be seen by the cynical as more pragmatic than principled.
Perhaps it is not as simple as that and, of course, we cannot see into the minds of all 498 members who opted for change. Some will always have favoured it, some will have come round to it, and some – for sure – will have seen it as necessary purely on the self-interested grounds of getting the Open back.
The club was taken off the Championship rota after last year’s vote narrowly failed to secure the necessary two-thirds majority for change.
Within minutes of announcing the results of the latest ballot yesterday, Muirfield was allowed back into the lucrative and prestigious fold.
That is only right and proper, as is magnanimity in victory on the part of those backing change. Thus, First Minister Nicola Sturgeon, one of many high-profile figures who had brought pressure to bear on the Company, tweeted: “Well done, Muirfield … Look forward to seeing you host the Open again in future.”
Bear in mind that 80.2 per cent in favour is an emphatic result. The hard rump of 19.8 per cent might be respected for revering tradition. They might complain about being bullied by the politically correct. But is there not an irony in wanting a PC-style “safe space” for themselves?
They were enjoined for sure; cajoled at times. But, ultimately, they had to be persuaded of the difference between a sports (or competitive games) club and a gentlemen’s club. And sport’s ethos is that all can compete for prizes, regardless of race, colour, creed – and gender.
That is only right and proper, The Honourable Company gets it now – and thus proves itself worthy of the name.
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