In addressing the wider political issues surrounding his sport, Justin Rose yesterday added his voice to those calling for the Open Championship to be taken away from male-only golf clubs.

While many in this predominantly white middle-class sport are hoping that the long overdue decision of the influential Royal & Ancient Golf Club of St Andrews to allow women to join its ranks will now see matters of golfing discrimination pushed down the news agenda, it was inevitable that it would be raised at this, arguably golf's most high profile competition.

Even so, it could easily have been side-stepped by players who have the legitimate excuse of saying their minds are on other matters this week and that, in any case, they have nothing to do with such decision-making.

That they get away with doing so is also down to the sort of niceties of behaviour that allow those who engage in or effectively endorse such prejudicial practices to continue to boast about standards of etiquette, while those challenging their right to do so are often dismissed as crass or confrontational.

It was, then, to Rose's great credit that the 34-year-old Englishman shirked neither that issue nor the question of the lack of racial diversity among those involved in this event and the damage these issues have done to golf's image down the years.

Most commendable of all was the willingness of one who makes a 21st century living in what is still regarded by many as a rather staid, even musty, sport to which they struggle to relate, to acknowledge the significance of the problem for the R&A if it continues to take its showpiece event to clubs that enshrine prejudice in their constitutions.

"We all support women's golf and we'd like to see that be as strong as possible in terms of the LET [Women's European Tour] and the LPGA [US Women's Tour].

" Obviously I think clubs somewhat have the right to do whatever they want to do, but then that maybe limits them from what they can host and their position potentially to the world," said Rose, in the knowledge that Muirfield, Royal St George's and Royal Troon refuse to admit female members.

"I think there's definitely a situation there where if you're going to host such high-profile events, you need to conform a little bit more with what's acceptable in the mainstream society."

On which note the issue of whether women should be allowed to join private clubs is almost minor compared with the other matter Rose was asked to consider yesterday. In many ways golf is only beginning to emerge from the dark ages in terms of addressing matters of institutionalised prejudice and can still stand accused of tokenism in many instances in the way it has sought to address it, the evidence of which doubtless prompted the following question of the 34-year-old, who was born in South Africa during the apartheid era.

Rose was asked: "Without Tiger Woods here, we don't have any black players on either of these two teams, no black vice captains, no black captains. Walking around this place the last couple of days, it feels sort of like a white people's convention in a way. Now, none of this is particularly new for golf and none of this is your fault, but does it bother the top players like yourself that the game of golf is not more diverse and reflective of the societies in which we live?"

His interrogator's point would only have been reinforced by leaving the interview room and scanning a media room which seats more than 400 people. For all that there is a female representation that is far in excess of what it would have been at any major sporting event 20 years ago, even those reporting on the sport are essentially monochrome in terms of skin tone.

Again there was a welcome modernity of outlook from Rose as he pondered the matter, acknowledged that it should not be avoided and suggested that, close to a quarter of a century after the Augusta club which host the US Masters - the first major tournament of every season - was shamed into accepting black club members, things are finally beginning to change.

"It is reflected a lot of times in who the kids see on TV and I think there's going to be a bit of a lag effect obviously with the Tiger effect and I think the people that he's encouraged to start the game," he observed.

"I've definitely seen a huge change in the States, especially with people coming out to watch golf, there's a great mix of people out there and that's fantastic for the game.

"I just think these things ... there could be a 15 to 20-year cycle before we see the real impact, certainly of what Tiger has been able to do to the game and some of the changes he's been able to make. But a lot of the governing bodies have been changing their stance on many of the issues, let's call it, whether it be with women or whether it be other scenarios. I think golf is definitely moving towards a healthy place."

Which is, of course, implicit acknowledgement that it has previously been in an unhealthy place and that there is a need for change to occur.