Women’s Group Points to PGA

In the latest salvo in the ongoing debate about the lack of female members at Augusta National, the National Council of Women’s Organizations wants the PGA Tour to cut its ties with the Masters.

“By allowing the Masters Golf Tournament to enjoy [PGA] tour recognition while continuing to discriminate against women, the tour is giving its stamp of approval to the practices at Augusta,” Martha Burk, chair of the NCWO, said in a statement released Monday to the media.

The PGA Tour has a policy against holding tournaments at venues with discriminatory practices, but contends that because it has no contract with Augusta National, there is no issue to debate.

“The tour’s position on this issue is well known,” said Bob Combs, the PGA Tour’s senior vice president for public relations and communications.

Burk said she would like PGA Tour Commissioner Tim Finchem to address the subject at his scheduled news conference Wednesday, before the Tour Championship tournament at East Lake Golf Club in Atlanta.

“Claiming that there is no contractual co-sponsorship agreement [with Augusta National] does not justify the PGA Tour’s violating its own standards,” Burk said in the statement. “In recognizing the Masters and counting the prize money toward season totals for players, the PGA Tour has created a double standard for the benefit of Augusta.”

Combs said the PGA Tour will not debate the merits of the issue. “We have nothing else to add,” he said.

Burk said in an telephone interview that she expressed the NCWO’s disappointment with the PGA Tour’s position months ago and received “an unsatisfactory” letter in reply.

“I’m challenging [Finchem],” Burk said. “[He] owes us, the public and their sponsors an explanation here.”

Burk’s group is pressuring Augusta National to admit a female member by the 2003 Masters. Hootie Johnson, chairman of the golf club, has strongly resisted the move and taken such steps as eliminating all television commercials during the broadcast of the 2003 Masters so sponsors would not be pressured by the NCWO. There are no exclusionary policies at Augusta National, but there also are no females among the club’s 300 members.