In September of 2014 the Royal and Ancient Golf Club of St. Andrews voted to strike down its 260 year male only edict, and allow women members.
The Royal and Ancient Golf Club at St. Andrew’s is a private club in Scotland consisting of 2,400 members who until Tuesday consisted of all male members as reported by ESPN.
“This is an historic day for the club and we could not be more proud also to welcome women who have distinguished themselves in golf over many years and have been great players and champions,” R&A captain George Macgregor said. “They are extremely worthy additions to our roll of honorary members and will become ambassadors for the club as they have been for the sport of golf throughout their careers.”
The club also broke traditional standards Tuesday by revealing the identity of those members whom have accepted membership on an honorary basis to the highly prestigious club to the public.
Annika Sorenstam, who won 10 major championships on the LPGA Tour headlines the first group of female members welcomed to the club along with Princess Anne of the Royal Family, Laura Davies, Belle Robertson, Lally Segard, Louise Suggs, and Renee Powell, only the second African American player to play on the LPGA Tour.
Annika Sorenstam took to twitter to share her delight in accepting membership to the club.
Thanks everybody for the nice tweets about the R&A membership announcement today. i am very honored to be one of the lucky ladies.
— Annika Sorenstam (@ANNIKA59) February 10, 2015
Congratulations to all of the new members of the Royal and Ancient Golf Club, their achievements throughout the sport of golf are well noted.