Rory McIlroy’s Open wish denied after iconic golf course was banned | Golf | Sport
Rory McIlroy was left frustrated with one golf club’s decision (Image: Getty)
Rory McIlroy harboured hopes of The Open Championship being staged at Muirfield. However, a ban on female golfers crushed these dreams and left him infuriated.
The Open is currently taking place at Royal Birkdale in Southport. The course, located north of Liverpool, has been home to the major tournament on 10 occasions as well as two Ryder Cups. McIlroy was eager for Muirfield to return as hosts of the tournament for the first time since 2013, but private members banned women from joining.
The Grand Slam winner implored those who voted against female golfers becoming members to “see sense.” Speaking in 2016, McIlroy said: “It’s more of a loss to Muirfield than it is to us.
“It’s not right to host the world’s biggest tournament at a place that does not allow women to be members. Hopefully Muirfield can see some sense and we can get it back on The Open rota.”
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Consequently, the R&A stated they would remove Muirfield from The Open roster until they changed membership rules. Another vote was held in 2017 but produced the same result, leaving McIlroy outraged.
McIlroy was left angered by the ban (Image: Getty)
He said: “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. 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. It’s horrendous. 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.”
Not long after, the Muirfield members relented and the ban was lifted. The Northern Irishman was delighted and put the courser forward as a venue for The Open in 2028.
Muirfield could still be in the running for The Open in future (Image: Getty)
However, Royal Lytham and St Annes was selected instead. The 37-year-old said: “It would be wonderful if it was [there]. I’m not privy to those conversations, but Muirfield deserves to be back on the Open rota.
“They rectified the issues they had. It’s a wonderful course. It’s one of the best courses on the rota and in the UK. As well, it has to commercially make sense.
“I think Mark Darbon [R&A chief executive] has been brought in to make the Open Championship commercially viable. I would say Muirfield, that area, North Berwick, that would probably be one of the more commercially viable Opens.”
The Open returned to Merseyside this week (Image: Mastercard)
Meanwhile, The Open is set to significantly boost local hospitality businesses on Merseyside.
Insights from the Mastercard Economics Institute (‘MEI’) suggest spend at businesses near Royal Birkdale could double during the event.
Analysis by Mastercard, Patron and the Official Card of The Open, found that during last year’s Open at Royal Portrush, overall spending within 5km of the course was around 119% higher than on a typical day, with local bars seeing spending spike by 234% and restaurants jump by 95%.
That jump in spending is set to benefit small and medium sized businesses in particular, which make up 99.6% of UK restaurants, bars and accommodation.
