 |  It wouldn't bother me playing alongside Michelle Wie in the Open |
Former major winners Ian Woosnam and Jose Maria Olazabal have backed the decision to allow women to qualify for next year's Open. Women had been barred from competing, but now the top five from each of the four women's majors will be allowed to take part in Open regional qualifying.
Woosnam said: "I've got no objection to women coming into our game if they are good enough."
Olazabal said: "If they prove they have the skills to be there it's alright."
Before now, the official wording for the Open had said entries would be accepted only from a "male professional or from a male amateur golfer".
The new move brings the Open into line with the other three men's majors, which do not discriminate against women in their entry criteria.
And Woosnam, the 1991 US Masters champion, welcomed the move.
"If they are good enough to get through regional qualifying and into final qualifying, they deserve to get in," the 47-year-old Briton said.
"It wouldn't bother me playing alongside Michelle Wie in the Open. If she got there, I think it would be exciting for the game of golf." Olazabal, US Masters champion in 1994 and 1999, echoed Woosnam's views.
"If they have the right level to play in the Open, there's nothing wrong with that.
"The only thing I could have against it is that it is possible they could be taking a lot of spots (in regional qualifying for the Open) and they have to prove they are worth it."
The top five women from each of the four women's majors will join male professionals as well as male amateurs, whose playing handicaps do not exceed scratch.
Women meeting the entry requirements for international final qualifying, local final qualifying and for the tournament itself can also enter.
The four women's majors are the Kraft Nabisco Championship, McDonalds LPGA Championship, the US Women's Open and the Weetabix Women's British Open.
As the Women's British Open takes place after the Open, it will be the top five from this year's event who can enter the qualifying.
That includes teenage sensation Wie and Annika Sorenstam, who finished joint third and joint fifth respectively at Royal Birkdale in July.
The others are winner Jeong Jang, Sophie Gustafsson, Young Kim, Christie Kerr and Liselotte Neumann.
Regional qualifying is an 18-hole competition at numerous venues in Britain and Ireland.
It was originally planned to be played on 3 July, but that will now be changed as it would clash with the US Women's Open.
Those successful in regional qualifying go through to 36-hole final qualifying around Hoylake the week before the Open.
MMIX
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