The late Sir Henry Cotton would have given a hearty cheer at the news which emanated from the R&A in March. Namely, that R&A hierarchy were recommending their members to vote to allow women to join their ranks. Way back in 1946, it was Cotton who set the ball rolling - if ever so slowly - to make Royal Liverpool (otherwise known as Hoylake) the happily and wholly mixed club that it is in time for this 2014 Open Championship.
The occasion was the 1946 News of the World Match Play championship where he would defeat a fellow Ryder Cup player in Jimmy Adams in the final. When Cotton had arrived at the start of the week and was advised that his wife, Toots, would not be allowed to use the clubhouse, he said that in such circumstances he would not be using it either. Instead, he went straight from his hotel to the first tee every day. People were intrigued by such goings-on and, as the already two-time Open champion survived one round after another, so the Secretary had no option but to face the press.
That was when he uttered the never-to-be forgotten words. “No woman ever has entered the clubhouse and, praise God, no woman ever will.”
Pages
Click here to see the published article.
