Sexist members at Augusta to be taken out and thrashed

[Conor Dary]

Is this possible? Is the PGA two faced in allowing Augusta a major with no ladies as members, but preventing Butler a major unless it allows the ladies?

Correct. Butler had to give up the Western Open 20 years ago because of their policies and will not get the US Open if they don't, yet Augusta still gets away with it.

[bambam]

Is this possible? Is the PGA two faced in allowing Augusta a major with no ladies as members, but preventing Butler a major unless it allows the ladies? Is she a super secret member?

"Membership restrictions are again a hot topic at Augusta National, which historically has invited the heads of Masters sponsors IBM, Exxon and AT&T to wear green jackets.

IBM named Virginia "Ginni" Rometty its CEO and president in January. According to reports that club officials never would confirm — almost everything here is a secret — the last four CEOs of IBM have been Augusta National members.

Some speculate that Rometty, a Northwestern alumna who sits on the school's board of trustees, already is a member."

The difference is that the four major championships - the Masters, US Open, PGA, and The Open Championship - are not PGA Tour sponsored events. They are run by indepdendent organizations - respectively, the Augusta National Golf Club and its members, the US Golf Association, the PGA of America (which is not the PGA Tour), and the Royal & Ancient Golf Club of St. Andrews, Scotland. The PGA Tour counts the events as official for its money lists, points lists, etc., but does not run them in anyway. Many people do not understand this. On FoxNews last week I heard Bob Beckel say that they should just take the Masters away from Augusta National and hold it somewhere else, which is ridiculous, since Augusta National runs the event, nobody else. They would obviously never take it away from itself.

Butler National was the site of the Western Open which is run by the PGA Tour, although it was jointly run by the Western Golf Association (they also hold an amateur and junior championship). So the PGA Tour could mandate that Butler had to have female members, or not hold the tournament (the club elected not to change their policy) but it has no authority over Augusta National.

[lonewolf]

[If we all agreed on everything, what would the fun be of that??!!

Not much danger of that. I think the only thing everyone would agree on is that there is nothing on which everyone would agree.