Matthew: I'd love to join Muirfield

Catriona reiterates her desire to become member of Lothians club

By Martin Inglis

Catriona Matthew has once again spelled out her desire to become a member at Muirfield. The Scot, who hails from nearby North Berwick, was delighted when the Honourable Company of Edinburgh Golfers voted in favour of admitting female members at the second attempt earlier this year, resulting in the course being reinstated to the Open rota. Since the announcement, Matthew hasn’t hidden the fact that she would like to be a member at the club and she reaffirmed those thoughts when speaking to Shane O’Donoghue for a recent edition of CNN’s Living Golf programme.

“I’d love to be a member if that transpires in the future,” said Matthew, the 2009 RICOH Women’s British Open champion. “Golf needs to get a bit more progressive to try and stay in touch with the real world and make it more appealing to youngsters, and I think that’s a good step in the right direction.”

The decision to welcome women into the fold at Muirfield was made with the backing of over 80% of the membership of the Honourable Company of Edinburgh Golfers in March.

However, speaking shortly after the announcement of the vote, club captain Henry Fairweather warned that it could take as long as seven years before the first women members are confirmed.

“Our members were quite clear that they wanted women to be treated not in any artificial way and they will have  the same admissions process as men,”  he said.

complicated

“They need to be proposed and seconded by members, then go before a candidate sub-committee and then they’ll go onto a waiting list. It’s all by proposal, as is normal for a private members’ club. Five-hundred members have supported women members so we’ll be looking for them to come forward with proposals.

“It’s quite a complicated admissions process. There is no standard length of time but on average it takes six to seven years. It can be accelerated or slowed down depending on the calibre of the application but the earliest point will likely be two years.”

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