For the first time in eight decades, the Augusta National Golf Club has female members.
For the first time in eight decades, the Augusta National Golf Club has female members.
The über exclusive club had come under increasing criticism for its all-male membership. Today, though, it announced it has invited former Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice and South Carolina financier Darla Moore to join as the first women to don green jackets when the club opens in October. Both women accepted.
In 2001, Martha Burk of the National Council of Women’s Organizations urged the club to bring more women into the fold. Former club chairman Hootie Johnson refused to budge on the issue, losing television sponsors for the Masters. He famously said that Augusta may one day have a woman in the club, “but not at the point of a bayonet.”
Rice and Moore were reportedly first considered as possible members five years ago.