R&A chief says be patient as Open return is mooted again

Dawson insisted that the North Coast club was still being assessed. “We’re cracking on with the work. We’ve got another visit planned over there relatively soon,” he said.

“You’ll just have to be patient and wait to see what comes out of it, I’m afraid.”

Asked about the negative impact of recent rioting in Belfast he added; “We’re still at quite an early stage in the investigation.

“And obviously the political situation in any area, be it Northern Ireland or any other part of the country, is a factor. But it’s far too early to say much more than that, I think, at the moment.”

Speaking at the traditional pre-tournament media conference, Mr Dawson said he believed the issue of gender and single-sex clubs had been “beaten to death recently”. But he admitted the R&A was finding the subject “increasingly difficult”.

Mr Dawson stressed that single-sex clubs were “in a very small minority in the UK”, with half of them being women-only.

He added: “In our view they don’t do anyone any harm and we think the right of freedom of association is important.

“We will have a good look at what people are saying and try to take a view about all of this and find the most sensible way forward. I’m absolutely not going to pre-empt what’s going to come out of this.”