One of the enduring divisions in the world of professional sport is to be abolished after the Royal and Ancient, golf's governing body, said yesterday that a decades-old bar on women playing at the Open Championship will be removed.

In a move that will delight campaigners for equality of the sexes in golf (not to mention horrify the countless, blazer-wearing buffers in suburban clubhouses across the world), Peter Dawson, secretary of the R&A, said in an interview with the Guardian that he will back a change to the Open's entry form which would allow top women golfers such as Annika Sorenstam and the American teenager Michelle Wie to participate in the world's most famous tournament.

Under the current rules, the R&A only accepts applications to play in the Open from "any male professional golfer or from a male amateur golfer" - a stipulation unique in the world of top-class golf and one which has added weight to the view that the R&A, which does not allow women members, is a bastion of sex discrimination.

"That wording was put in place at a time when it was never thought that women would want to enter. If it is offensive to people then we will take it out," Dawson said.

"The R&A is not in the business of keeping women out of the Open."

He said the entry form for the 2005 Open had already been printed, but a modified form, once approved by the club's championship committee, would be available in time for the 2006 event.

Perhaps mindful that such a move would meet opposition from conservative elements within the game, the R&A's secretary said the change did not herald an age when the Open would become a "dual sex" event. Nevertheless, his announcement was greeted with universal approval within golf.

Laura Davies, the greatest female golfer Britain has produced in the last 20 years, called it a fantastic development and predicted some of her colleagues on the women's professional tour might be tempted to compete against the likes of Tiger Woods and Phil Mickelson.

"The most likely candidate to have a go right now would be Michelle Wie, who hits the golf ball a very long way - an absolute necessity for any woman who wants to compete against the top men," she said.

The sports minister, Richard Caborn, a keen golfer and long-time critic of the R&A's men-only membership policies, said: "By altering the rules the people at St Andrews are sending out a welcome message of inclusiveness and modernity. I look forward to the day when a woman tees it up at the Open."