In a defiant statement about the privacy of Augusta
National, chairman Hootie Johnson lashed out at a national women's
group Tuesday for urging the club to have female members before next
year's Masters.
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Full text of Johnson's statement |
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"We have been
contacted by Marth Burk, Chair of the National Council of
Women's Organizations (NCWO), and strongly urged to change our
membership. Dr. Burk said this change should take place before
the Master's Tournament next spring in order to avoid it
becoming 'an issue.' She suggested that NCWO's leadership
'discuss this matter' with us.
We want the American public to be aware of this action
right from the beginning. We have advised Dr. Burk that we do
not intend to participate in such backroom discussions.
We take out membership very seriously. It is the very
fabric of our club. Our members are people who enjoy each
other's company and the game of golf. Our membership alone
decides our membership -- not any outside group with its own
agenda.
We are not unmindful of the good work undertaken by Dr.
Burk's organization in global human rights, Social Security
reform, reproductive health, education, spousal abuse and
workplace equality, among others. We are therefore puzzled as
to why they have targeted our private golf club.
Dr. Burk's letter incorporates a deadline tied to the
Masters and refers to sponsors of the tournament telecast.
These references make it abundantly clear that Augusta
National Golf Club is being threatened with a public campaign
designed to use economic pressure to a achieve a goal of NCWO.
Augusta National and the Masters -- while happily
entwined -- are quite different. One is a private golf club.
The other is a world class sports event of great public
interest. It is insidious to attempt to use one to alter the
other. The essence of a private club is privacy.
Nevertheless, the threatening tone of Dr. Burk's letter
signals the probability of a full-scale effort to force
Augusta National to yield to NCWO's will.
We expect such a campaign would attempt to depict the
members of our club as insensitive bigots and coerce the
sponsors of the Masters to disassociate themselves under
threat -- real or implied -- of boycotts and other economic
pressures.
We might see 'celebrity' interviews and talk show
guests discussing the 'morality' of private clubs. We could
also anticipate op-ed articles and editorials.
There could be attempts at direct contact with board
members of sponsoring corporations and inflammatory mailings
to stockholders and investment institutions. We might see
everything from picketing and boycotts to t-shirts and bumper
stickers. On the internet, there could be active chat rooms
and email messaging. These are all elements of such campaigns.
We certainly hope none of that happens. However, the
message delivered to us was clearly coercive.
We will not be bullied, threatened or intimidated.
Obviously, Dr. Burk and her colleagues view themselves
as agents of change and feel any organization that has stood
the test of time and has strong roots in tradition - and does
not fit their profile -- needs to be changed.
We do not intend to become a trophy in their display
case.
There may well come a day when women will be invited to
join our membership but that timetable will be ours and not at
the point of a bayonet.
We do not intend to be further distracted by this
matter. We will not make additional comments or respond to the
taunts and gripes artificially generated by a corporate
campaign.
We shall continue our traditions and prepare Augusta
National Golf Club to host the Masters as we have since 1934
With all due respect, we hope Dr. Burk and her
colleagues recognize the sanctity of our privacy and continue
their good work in a more appropriate arena."
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"Our membership alone decides our membership -- not any
outside group with its own agenda,'' Johnson said in a surprisingly
long and angry statement.
The National Council of Women's Organizations, which has
about 6 million members from 160 groups, sent a letter to Johnson on
June 12 after chairwoman Martha Burk read reports about Augusta
National not having women among its 300 members.
Lloyd Ward, the first black CEO of the U.S. Olympic Committee
and an Augusta member, said during the Masters that he would lobby
to broaden the membership to include women.
"We know that Augusta National and the sponsors of the
Masters do not want to be viewed as entities that tolerate
discrimination against any group, including women,'' Burk said in
the letter.
In a three-sentence reply to Burk that she received via
overnight mail Wednesday, Johnson said he found the letter to be
"offensive and coercive,'' and that there would be no more
discussion with NCWO because Augusta membership matters are private.
"The response is insensitive at best and confrontational at
worst,'' Burk said. "I and my groups are making a good-faith effort
to urge the club to be fair, to not discriminate against women and
basically to come into the 21st century.
"We were trying the olive-branch approach, but he's unwilling
to talk.''
Johnson had plenty to say in a three-page statement.
"The message delivered to us was clearly coercive,'' he said.
"We will not be bullied, threatened or intimidated. We do not intend
to become a trophy in their display case.''
Burk said NCWO's next step would be to contact the sponsors
of the Masters -- Coca-Cola, IBM and Citigroup -- to ask them not to
do business with a club that has no female members.
"I hope they'll respond positively,'' she said. "I find it
interesting to think that if the club barred blacks, whether any
sponsor would come near it in this day and age. Why should it be
different for barring half of the population?''
Augusta National, built on a former nursery in northeastern
Georgia, opened in 1932. The Masters was created in 1934 and has
become the most famous golf tournament in the world. It usually gets
the highest television ratings, too.
Tiger Woods won the Masters this year for the third time.
Johnson said in April that Augusta does not have exclusionary
membership policies, although it did not have a black member until
1990 and, as Burk points out, has not had a female member in its
70-year history.
"There may well come a day when women will be invited to join
our membership, but that timetable will be ours, and not at the
point of a bayonet,'' Johnson said.
While there are no female members, several women have played
Augusta. Johnson recently invited the University of South Carolina
women's golf team to play as his guest, and Karrie Webb and Kelly
Robbins from the LPGA Tour played the course in May.
Johnson tried to draw a line between the privacy of the club
and the public nature of the Masters tournament, attended by some
40,000 people.
Augusta National operates the Masters independent from any
other golf organization, such as the PGA Tour. The club gets most of
its money from an annual TV contract with CBS Sports and sales from
its souvenir store at the course. Weekly tickets cost $125, half the
cost of other major golf championships.
"Augusta National and the Masters -- while happily entwined
-- are quite different,'' Johnson said. "One is a private golf club.
The other is a world-class sports event of great public interest. It
is insidious to attempt to use one to alter the essence of the
other.''
Burk suggested that if Augusta National does not have female
members, the Masters should move to a club that does.
"The Masters, in my mind, is not tied at the hip to this
club,'' she said. "An event of this profile could be held somewhere
else.''
The next major golf championship is the British Open, where
Woods will try to win the third leg of the Grand Slam. It will be
played at Muirfield in Scotland, a club that also does not have
female members.
"I'm going to leave that for the British feminists,'' Burk
said.
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