After 260 years of exclusion, women will be allowed to join the Royal and Ancient Golf Club of St Andrews in Scotland after an overwhelming members' vote on Sept. 18 opened the doors to the famous St Andrews clubhouse. Helen Grant, Britain's Minister for Sport, was among the first to welcome the move. All the club's 2,400 global members had a chance to participate in the vote, either in person or via proxy and postal votes. More than three quarters of those eligible to vote took part in the ballot and 85 percent voted for women to become members. This vote has immediate effect. The Royal and Ancient Golf Club of St Andrews is now a mixed membership club. Founded in 1754, the club is regarded as the “home of golf” and has hosted the British Open a record 28 times. Women have been able to play on the course, which staged the women's British Open last year, but they were, until the recent vote, not allowed in the clubhouse and played no significant part in the sport's rule-making arm, the R&A.

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