Tait: Dawson’s leadership helped strengthen R&A

Peter Dawson ( Getty Images )Peter Dawson has much to reflect on as he clears his office atop the Royal & Ancient Golf Club’s clubhouse behind the first tee of the Old Course at St. Andrews. As he packs away mementos from 16 years as R&A chief executive, he can be proud he left the organization in a better place than when he arrived.

The governing body has changed radically since Dawson, who leaves office Friday, took over from Sir Michael Bonallack in 1999 after a career in engineering. Back then the idea of women joining the all-male Royal & Ancient Golf Club seemed like pie-in-the-sky thinking. Dawson’s success in allowing women to enter golf’s most iconic clubhouse as members is arguably…