Golf greats Annika Sorenstam of Sweden and Laura Davies of England are among seven women to become the first female members of the Royal and Ancient Golf Club of St. Andrews in Scotland, the club announced.
Members of the private club voted in September to allow female members for the first time in its 260-year history. The club also said that more women will be added as members “in the coming months.”
Sorenstam (pictured on the Old Course at St. Andrews), who claimed 10 major titles among her 93 professional victories en route to a spot in the World Golf Hall of Fame, posted this note on Twitter: “I am very honored to be one of the lucky ladies.”
Davis, who has claimed 85 pro victories including four majors, will be inducted into the World Golf Hall of Fame in St. Augustine, Fla., in July at St. Andrews and was named Dame Commander of the Order of the British Empire by Queen Elizabeth last summer.
The other women selected as members include Louise Suggs, a co-founder of the LPGA Tour, who claimed 11 majors; Princess Anne, who competed in equestrian for Britain at the 1976 Olympics and is an IOC member; Renee Powell, the second black player to compete on the LPGA Tour; Belle Robertson, one of Britain’s greatest women’s amateur golfers, and Lally Segard of France, who won 14 international amateur titles before becoming president of the World Amateur Golf Council, which is now known as the International Golf Federation.
Princess Anne, the only one of the seven who has not played competitive golf, is the fourth member of the royal family to become an honorary member of the R&A, joining her father Prince Phillip, brother Prince Andrew and the Duke of Kent.
