By now, everyone has heard that Augusta National finally has allowed women to join as members of the private club. Condoleezza Rice and Darla Moore have officially accepted membership in the heretofore all-male club. It was a move that was long overdue, and welcomed by many, although with a lot of snarky remarks from supposedly “non-bias” journalists.
And the person most responsible for the most recent delay in admitting women into the 80-year club is… Martha Burke.
HUH?
Yes, you did see that correctly. Martha Burke, the person who tried to pressure Augusta National into admitting women members, the person who tried to use Hootie Johnson as a springboard to bigger national prominence, the person who tried to bully CEOs into boycotting advertising at The Masters—likely cost women from being members at Augusta National for several years with her actions. And although she finally got what she wanted, all she had to do to get it done sooner was… nothing.
I think it’s pretty clear to anyone with a sense of intuition that Augusta National had been looking for some time to add women into their membership. After all, women could play at Augusta, women could caddie at Augusta, they could do just about anything. There wasn’t anything in the rules about not admitting women. They just needed the right women (read: powerful and rich) to admit. I always thought Catherine Zeta-Jones would have made a no-brainer choice as the first woman admitted as a member, but at the end of the day, it was not to be.
I genuinely believe Hootie might have accepted women as members as early as 2000. Darla Moore would have been too obvious of a choice when Hootie was chairman, however, because it would have given the impression Hootie was just helping a friend rather than breaking a barrier (FTR, Hootie and Darla are close friends). And Condi was busy serving in the Bush administration in those years, so the perception was that Hootie was trying to curry political favor from W.
In the meantime, Martha Burke had just been named the head of a new organization designed to unify women’s organizations, the National Council of Women’s Organizations. She saw Augusta National as her break-out moment of glory. She sensed Augusta National was struggling to find the right women to extend memberships to, and she thought she could pressure Augusta National on her terms. In the Spring of 2002, she chose to make her stand and used the media to try and bully Hootie into a rushed decision. Hootie would not back down from the onslaught of sports journalists who sensed they could be witnessing a Jackie Robinson like moment, and even went so far as to suggest Tiger should boycott The Masters. When Tiger didn’t, it was up to Martha to protest at Augusta. The protest on that Masters Saturday afternoon was a disaster for Burke. She could muster only 10 rent-a-protesters and a guy who called himself “Heywood Jablowme”. Hootie won round 1.
After the embarrassment, Martha tried to bully CEOs into not sponsoring the Masters. But Hootie saw it coming and decided to televise the Masters commercial-free. Given how much money Augusta National was pulling in and how he had a willing TV Broadcaster in CBS, he could do it. Round 2 to Hootie.
Finally Hootie turned over the reins to former ACOG chief, Billy Payne. Billy is known as a more progressive type, but he moved as deliberately as Hootie before him. When word came out that IBM, a sponsor of the Masters, was hiring a new female CEO, chatter began that Augusta National would finally admit her as a member. After all, the IBM CEO automatically had membership in the past.
But Billy already had his choices in mind. Although he struggled through the 2012 press conferences and had to deal with Martha again, though a Martha that no longer had the clout she once had, Billy made it through another Masters. Finally, he had the breathing room to make his choices. And they were excellent ones, befitting Augusta National. Don’t cry for the IBM CEO, however. Now, Billy can extend the invite to membership for her next year in a quiet manner, without pressure.
Sure, Martha Burke took a self-congratulatory victory lap yesterday. But she no longer is in charge of NCWO, and all she can do is claim a victory she nearly squashed. The real winner here is Billy Payne, who proved he is the right chairman to get the job done at Augusta National. And for that, I salute the man who managed to bring the Olympics to Atlanta for once again affirming my faith that he could bring female members to Augusta National.
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