It is no secret that the Golf Foundation has had its difficulties.

You wait until the forest fire is on your front step before you step up.

Our championship committee pledged to review entry conditions and to assess how women golfers might compete on equal terms with men for a place in the Open.

The hesitancy is in the detail, not the principal. There has been no resistance to the principal of women playing in the Open if they are qualified for it. We are not dragging our feet. It's just that we never had cause to think about it before.