There’s A New Female Member At Augusta National
There’s a new female member at Augusta National.
Augusta National Golf Club
Augusta National Golf Club was founded back in 1932. And for 80 years it was a “mens only” club. It’s not that women weren’t welcome, for many years women had played the course. Many of them famous golfers and many of them, the wives of members. Maybe the most famous was Mamie Eisenhower, who’s husband, General Dwight D. Eisenhower, the 34th President of the United States was a member. In fact, the club constructed and named a cabin on the campus after Mrs. Eisenhower, “Mamie’s Cabin” to the left of the 10th tee.
In the 90’s there was a famous incident involving a woman by the name of Martha Burk, who demanded that the club invite women to be members. It’s always been my opinion that the club was close to admitting female members at that time, but they would not be bullied into it. Honestly, I think the incident delayed the naming of women members until it eventually happened.
It happened in 2012 when the club did something very unusual, and issued a press release to announce two new members. It’s not what they do. In 2012, Condoleezza Rice and Darla Moore were named the first two female members of the club.
New Female Member At Augusta National
Over the years, quietly and without fanfare, the club has continued to add female members, including Ginni Rometty, the then Chairperson of IBM, Heidi Ueberroth, co-chairman of the Pebble Beach Co. and to date the number of female members stood at 6, until now.
Last week we learned that that Annika Sorenstam, arguably the greatest female golfer in history had accepted membership to Augusta National. Annika won 72 times on the LPGA tour including 10 major championships. She’s the only women to shoot 59 on the LPGA. And she is a member of the World Golf Hall of Fame. Last year, Annika became a member of another prestigious club, Pine Valley Golf Club in New Jersey.
So Annika becomes the seventh female member at Augusta National, she will not be the last.