It has been 8 years since Martha Burke brought attention to the fact that Augusta National had no female members. Nothing has changed. I’m not going to argue the legal aspects of the issue. Private clubs have every right to include whoever they want as members. Augusta is a private club, but it operates one of the most public events in the world. There are not to many people who don’t know where the National is or who some of its famous members are. Isn’t private supposed to be private? Burke argued that male CEO’s who are members of Augusta have an unfair advantage over female executives when it comes to business deals. If she was wrong, why did Morgan Stanley and Smith Barney have to pay an 80 million dollar settlement on behalf of female employees with a stipulation that the companies would cease reimbursing expenses related to Augusta National. Do I think that Augusta should be forced to admit women members – no. They have every legal right not to. But at some point someone should say, “forget the legal issue, maybe it is just the right thing to do.” Ah, but men are men and women are women. In a man’s world justification would follow on the lines of the Captain of a famous London club who said, “We have no lady members, but that is simply because none have applied. But if one did, her application would necessarily fail: not because she was a woman, you understand, but because she was not a man.” 1

1. from - The Greatest Game by Hugh Dodd & David Purdie