Men-only row overshadows Masters’ preps

Augusta National Golf Club may grant membership to a woman for the first time in its history as it prepares to host the Masters this week.

The 79-year-old American golf club has been men-only since it opened and has given membership to the last four chief executives of IBM, due to the computer company’s sponsorship of the Masters tournament.

However, earlier this year, Virginia Rometty, who is a golfer, was named CEO of IBM, which has also run the club’s website since 1996.

Women are allowed to play the course at the club, but they are not allowed to be members or wear the famous green jacket, which is reserved for about 300 men, including Bill Gates, Warren Buffett and Arnold Palmer, who joined the club on an invitation-only basis.

The club has been the subject of controversy over its exclusivity in the past; it admitted its first African-American member as recently as 1990, at a time when a storm was erupting over Shoal Creek, an all-white American club where the PGA Championship took place only after it admitted its first black member. And the 2003 and 2004 Masters were broadcast without commercials because of pressure on corporate sponsors after Martha Burk, then chair of the influential National Council of Women’s Organizations, contended that hosting the Masters tournament at a single sex club constituted sexism.

Neither Augusta National nor IBM have made a comment on the issue, but Burk has stated that if the golf club makes Rometty anything less than a full member then “they’ll be making a statement that they don’t consider her an equal to her predecessors.” She added that she would not be surprised if IBM pressurised Rometty to say she does not want to be a member, although this could result in bad publicity for the company.

Last year’s Open Championship’s preparations in Britain also proved to be controversial as the host club, Royal St George’s in Kent, does not allow female members.

The R&A’s chief executive, Peter Dawson, was forced to defend the decision to choose the course as the championship venue, stating that Royal St George’s membership policy was a private matter for the club.