Tuesday, July 16, 2013

STUART McEWEN COULD BRING WIND OF CHANGE AT MUIRFIELD

FROM THE DAILY TELEGRAPH WEBSITE
By OLIVER BROWN 
As Muirfield officials prepare for a deeply uncomfortable week of scrutiny over their ban on women members, the Open’s hosts appear to be taking their first steps behind the scenes to modernise.
It is understood that after the championship this week, long-serving secretary Alastair Brown – who declared last summer that female membership was “not even on the agenda” – would be replaced by Stuart McEwen, formerly of Kingsbarns and a figure widely regarded as a reformer.
The wheels of change grind slowly within the Honourable Company of Edinburgh Golfers, but this latest appointment offers the clearest sign yet that the most intransigent institution in sport is being forced into action.
McEwen, who more recently served as director of golf at Gleneagles, has drawn widespread praise for his innovative work at Kingsbarns on the Fife coast since its founding in 2000, adding to the sense of a possible shift in Muirfield’s controversial position towards women.
One source close to the process said: “The notion of women members is talked about openly now, rather than in whispers. It is not a case of if any longer, but when.”
Smith’s retirement to make way for McEwen is believed to form part of a pre-arranged succession plan. Here at the Open, however, the continued refusal to consider admitting women is already a looming embarrassment.
Already Alex Salmond, Scotland’s First Minister, and Culture Secretary Maria Miller have insisted that they would boycott the tournament.
Defending champion Ernie Els, the last winner at Muirfield in 2002, has described the club’s outlook as “so weird”, and he shifted ­uncomfortably in his chair when pressed on how he might try to explain such a philosophy to his daughter Samantha.
“She’s a hotheaded girl, just like my wife – I would have to choose my words carefully,” the South African replied.
“It’s a hard one. The club has been around for over 150 years and they have never thought about changing their policy. We play the Open at this wonderful course, and I am not going to miss it for the world – even though it adopts, unfortunately, the policy it has. But I will go and play in the Sahara Desert if I have to.”
Muirfield’s idiosyncratic ways were on display on Monday, when even the great Tiger Woods was banned from teeing off at the 10th before 7am. But it is its attitudes towards women have remained resolutely archaic.
In 1992, when Nick Faldo secured his second Open triumph on this stretch of East Lothian coast, one lady found her path to the smoking room blocked by a uniformed policeman. “Sorry ma’am, not this way,” she was told. “Gentlemen only, thank you.” Faldo stonewalled any mention of the subject on Monday.
Asked by Telegraph Sport if he found the continued policy of exclusion curious, he replied, curtly: “That’s for the club to decide.”
To help fend off the firestorm of criticism, Muirfield have handed over their public relations exercise to Glasgow-based company 3x1. In a statement, the club responded to the action by Salmond and Miller by saying: “We are disappointed that some individuals feel unable to attend this year’s Open staged by The R&A at Muirfield.
“As a club we conform to the Equality Act 2010 and any change in the membership would be for the members to decide. At this moment there are no plans to change the current membership status.”
Ahead of their 16th staging of the Open, club are at pains to point out that women are still welcome to play the course as guests, and that they have previously hosted the Curtis Cup. But eyewatering tales continue to circulate.
Perhaps the most outlandish tale – that the resident blazers once refused to let the local police investigate a break-in because a female officer turned up – belong in the realm of apocrypha.
 But one notorious story requires no extra embroidery. A particular tale records the supercilious manner in which former secretary Paddy Hanmer set about a would-be visitor to the course.
The well-heeled gentleman is said to have arrived at Muirfield bearing an ornate letter of introduction, whereupon Hanmer barked at him: “Which colleges?”
“Oxford and Cambridge,” came the reply. “Service?” “Duke of Glendon’s Light Infantry. Won the Victoria Cross.” “Are you a member of a club?” “Yes, I belong to three clubs in London.” “Handicap?” “Twelve.” “All right, then. You can play nine holes. The back nine, of course.”
It is the apparent relish taken in its exclusionary position that distinguishes Muirfield, and which explains why women face such a struggle to gain acceptance.
Peter Lederer of Gleneagles argued, at last month’s KPMG Golf Business Forum at St Andrews, that the men-only ­philosophy at Muirfield inevitably had an adverse bearing upon how the game was perceived.
“This conversation frustrates me,” he argued. “If Richard Branson or Bill Gates were making the golf industry today, would they make it as it is? They would think to ask, 
‘What are women looking for?’ ”
Dana Garmany of Troon Golf claimed he was exasperated that Muirfield-style clubs were even in existence, let alone hosting majors. “It’s so backward that it is even being talked about,” he said.
However, a spokesman for the Honourable Company countered: “Muirfield is inextricably linked to the Open and its heritage. The club welcomes women to play either as visitors or guests year round with full use of the facilities – as will be the case throughout the championship.”
That is unlikely to be sufficient to placate the gathering band of detractors, however. The elephant in the room is ready to rear its head.

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