The Muirfield Golf Club took advantage of a mulligan, and, in its second vote in 10 months, straightened out enough of its wayward members to surpass the two-thirds majority needed to admit women.

Tuesday’s victory was perhaps more about pragmatism than principles. Just over 80 percent of the men of the Honourable Company of Edinburgh, which runs Muirfield, determined that it is better to have to share membership privileges with the occasional woman than to be excluded from hosting a British Open.

Of the 621 members who voted, 498 were in favor of admitting women. Last May, 616 members cast ballots, with fewer than 400, or 64 percent, voting for the resolution.

Any inclination to warmly welcome the gentlemen of Muirfield into the 21st century is tempered by the fact that 123 members — even confronted with a boycott of their storied course by the Royal and Ancient, the organizer of the British Open — stubbornly thumbed their noses at what passes for progress in the rest of the civilized world by voting against admitting women.