GULLANE, SCOTLAND | Sometimes the best way to deal with a problem is to act a little rather than a lot. A subtle tweak to the thought process here, a slight twist to the message there? It can make a profound difference.
Nine years ago, when Muirfield last hosted the Open Championship, the prevailing mood was that the host club was welcome to limit its membership to men, but that it presented a significant problem when the sport’s oldest tournament was taken there; that the sport was compromised by association with a stage boasting antiquated notions of inclusion and exclusion.
On the eve of last week’s AIG Women’s Open, R&A chief executive Martin Slumbers did not directly address those memories, but the words he offered indicated that what was once problematic was now full of potential.
“Big-time sport needs big-time venues, and we undoubtedly have that in Muirfield, one of the finest, if not the finest, links we have,” he said. “Let me just explain why we brought the championship here, because I think that's really important that people understand.
“We absolutely thought, how do we present this championship in a world-class way? And then move it in a way that the rest of the world thinks it's world-class, including the talent who are playing?
“Two years ago, we announced five venues in one go. You’ve never heard us do that before. We were absolutely focussed on how we stage the championship on the best venues.”
“To be playing better golf courses – golf courses with this historical meaning – it really means a lot to all of us.”
Brooke Henderson
For the record, the five were Carnoustie last year, Muirfield this year, followed by Walton Heath (2023), St. Andrews’ Old Course (2024) and Royal Porthcawl (2025).
“So, this was all about platform,” Slumbers said. “It's all about elevation. I think the fact that quite a lot of stories are being written about it means we got the venue.”
Same course, different vibe. In 2013, the sport was on the defensive because of the host. In 2022, on the front foot because of it. A smart strategy, one made possible by the club’s adoption of progress. As is well-documented elsewhere, the membership was initially reluctant to allow female members, then changed its mind in a subsequent vote.
The proof was always going to be in the pudding, and on the relatively straightforward business of the examination and tradition there was nothing but praise.
“To be playing better golf courses – golf courses with this historical meaning – it really means a lot to all of us,” Amundi Evian Championship winner Brooke Henderson said. “It's just proof that the women's game is continuing to grow. We feel like we're making a difference for future generations.”
Added Nelly Korda: “Knowing the history and the fact that we were going to be the first female tournament out here was pretty amazing.”
That past cannot be ignored, not least because so many contrasts with it were so delicious. As Catriona Matthew, a nearby North Berwick resident, said: “Growing up along the road, I never imagined playing a major so close to home.” She was a litter picker at a past Open, which had absolutely nothing to do with Muirfield’s policies, but it was impossible not to be delighted that she had progressed from that role to this year hitting the ceremonial first tee shot of the tournament. A journey for her and her sport.
In 2013, there were numerous television images of crusty old members, dressed in elaborately archaic outfits, often with unlikely eyebrows or haircuts. It fed the narrative of a sport out of time and covered in cobwebs. This year, presenters Jenny Drummond and Mia Baker sat on beany bags on the first tee and on the rooftop clubhouse bar, shooting the breeze with the players in post-round video content.
Not all of Muirfield’s idiosyncrasies needed ironing out, and Georgia Hall was tickled by one in particular. “I heard they don’t have a pro shop,” she said with a chuckle. “I found that a bit weird. I think you have to go to Gullane. But it’s very historic, which I love; very old.”
What of the reality of Muirfield today? Opinions varied. Some couldn’t help wondering if there was reluctance behind the scenes, a belief that the changes had been expedient.
Beth Allen, the American who topped the Ladies European Tour’s Order of Merit in 2016 and lives in Edinburgh, thinks otherwise. She befriended a group of members when playing the Scottish Open at nearby Archerfield Links and has been a regular guest since 2014.
“My friends were disappointed with the original vote, yet also not surprised it was passed the second time,” she said. “But I’ve never been treated any differently as a woman; it’s never been a problem. I always wanted to play here and was aware that it might be a strange experience, yet the reality was, and has continued to be, so different to the common perception. I always say that it’s my favourite day out in golf: 18 holes in the morning, lunch in the carvery and foursomes in the afternoon. You can’t beat it. My favourite thing in the world to do, and a great place.”
Muirfield member Lindsey Garden played the third round as a scorer alongside Lydia Hall. Allen said of her: “She’s such a good member of the club: not only a great golfer, she’s also caddied on the men’s tour, is a lawyer in Edinburgh and a good friend of Catriona Matthew.”
Garden herself said: “My membership at The Honourable Company? It's fantastic. What is it like to be a woman member at Muirfield? It’s the same as it is for a man. We’re equal.”
It is also undeniable that there are more females involved in television (both in front of and behind the camera), more of them in the media centre, and Lauren Spray, of England Golf, was delighted with the tented village response to the Women and Girls Golf Week, which ran concurrently with the championship.
It was part of what was perhaps the happiest contrast between 2013 and 2022. Then, journalist Alistair Dunsmuir tweeted: “Just heard from a Midlands pro that a girl pulled out of his free taster lesson as golf is ‘too men only.’ ” This year it was not only that Spray, the PGA and the R&A all reported increased take-up of playing opportunities in the tented village by young girls and families, but that there was a sense that those young girls were not merely in attendance, but keenly aware of whom they were following, whom they were asking to autograph their hats, and whom they dreamed of emulating.
Matt Cooper