Former English golfer and commentator Peter Alliss has suggested that women who want to play at the prestigious Muirfield club in Scotland should marry a club member.

The 85-year old, who has been called the "voice of golf" was reacting after the club held a vote on accepting women into their fold, which narrowly failed to get the two-third majority required. Muirfield has staged the Open Championship, one of golf's oldest and most prestigious tournaments, 16 times, but was taken off the schedule as a result of women being denied permission to join.

Alliss supported the move to not let women become members. "The women who are there as wives of husbands, they get all the facilities. If somebody wants to join, well you’d better get married to somebody who’s a member," he said, according to The Guardian.

Alliss has courted controversy for his sexist views earlier as well – the BBC was forced to apologise in July last year after the 85-year old made a comment about golfer Zach Johnson's wife. In April, he infamously claimed that attempts to give women equal rights in golf have "caused mayhem".