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Ordinary club golfers have overwhelmingly called for the remaining golf organisations with official links to Prince Andrew to revoke the disgraced royal’s patronages.

On Friday, the Golf Foundation became the first golf body to sever links with the Duke of York in light of the ensuing controversy surrounding the Duke of York’s friendship with convicted US sex offender Jeffrey Epstein.

The junior charity joined big businesses such as Barclays, British Telecom and Standard Chartered in distancing themselves from the eighth in line to the throne.

However, 26 other golf organisations have so far failed to do likewise. They include the Royal and Ancient Golf Club of St Andrews – of which he is a past captain – and Open Championship host venues Royal Liverpool and Royal Portrush.

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This has drawn criticism from within the golf community, with separate polls conducted through bunkered.co.uk’s social media platforms demonstrating the depth of feeling among grassroots players.

We asked the same question on both platforms: do you think the remaining 26 golf organisations with link to the Duke of York should revoke his patronage?

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On Facebook, 96% of respondents said yes as compared with just 4% who said no.

On Twitter, 93% of respondents said yes and only 7% no.

Meanwhile, North Berwick Golf Club has said that it is monitoring the controversy surrounding Prince Andrew. The 13th oldest golf club in the world, North Berwick is scheduled to play host to the Duke of York Young Champions Trophy next summer. The event, a popular competition for the world’s leading under-18 boy and girl golfers, has been staged since 2001 and has featured the likes of Rory McIlroy, Anna Nordqvist and Matteo Manassero.

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It is slated to visit North Berwick next September. bunkered.co.uk contacted the club to establish:

– If it still intends to stage the event and, if so, if has any reservations about doing so;
– If it would prefer to see Prince Andrew’s name removed from the event;
– If it intends to extend an invitation to Prince Andrew to attend.

Replying on behalf of the club, general manager Elaine McBride told us: “As I’m sure you can appreciate, this is a very sensitive issue for the club and at this stage all I can say is that we are monitoring the situation.”


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Michael McEwan is the Deputy Editor of bunkered and has been part of the team since 2004. In that time, he has interviewed almost every major figure within the sport, from Jack Nicklaus, to Rory McIlroy, to Donald Trump. The host of the multi award-winning bunkered Podcast and a member of Balfron Golfing Society, Michael is the author of three books and is the 2023 PPA Scotland 'Writer of the Year' and 'Columnist of the Year'. Dislikes white belts, yellow balls and iron headcovers. Likes being drawn out of the media ballot to play Augusta National.

Deputy Editor

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