The controversy swirls around the host site of the Masters: Augusta National Country Club in Georgia. Augusta is a private club whose membership is very exclusive. Currently, Augusta has no female members. In an effort to change this situation, Martha Burk, the head of the National Organization for Women (NOW), wrote a letter to the president of Augusta, William "Hootie" Johnson, imploring him to invite women to join the club. Johnson refused to consider Burk's request claiming that Augusta has a right to restrict membership from whomever they want.
This incident escalated as Burk put pressure on the sponsors of the tournament to pull their funding. In an effort to avoid having their sponsors being labeled as male chauvinists, Augusta voluntarily dropped all of their sponsors, and CBS dropped all of their commercials. This weekend, Burk and her supporters traveled to Augusta to protest the club's decision not to admit women as members. On the other side, a splinter group related to the Ku Klux Klan traveled to Augusta to support the club's decision not to allow women members.
As a result, instead of the main focus of the tournament being whether Tiger Woods could win the Masters for an historic third time in a row (he didn't), the question was whether he should boycott the tournament to protest Augusta's discrimination against women. This put the world's best golfer in a very difficult position. Woods decided to play in the tournament which was, without question, the right decision to make.
It is a shame that, in 2003, there are sectors of our society that still discriminate against others. Many of the most exclusive country clubs in the country have no female, African-American or Jewish members. For instance, Burning Tree Country Club in Maryland, which is located about five minutes from my house, discriminates against all three groups. Senator Don Nickles (R-OK), one of the leading Republicans to replace Trent Lott as Senate Majority Leader, is one of the many prominent men who belong to Burning Tree, yet I do not see anyone asking for his resignation, nor should they.
Augusta, like Burning Tree, is a private club, and although I vehemently disagree with their policies, they have a right to choose who is and who is not a member at their club. Moreover, the Professional Golfers Association (PGA) should not consider changing courses because playing the Masters at Augusta has been a tradition for 64 years, and it should stay that way.