Mitt Romney says women should be admitted to Augusta

Mitt Romney agrees with President Obama on at least one thing: Women should be admitted to the Augusta National Golf Club.

In response to a reporter’s shouted question about the issue at a campaign appearance Thursday, Romney said, “Well of course. I’m not a member of Augusta. I don’t know if I would qualify -- my golf game is not that good -- but certainly if I were a member and if I could run Augusta, which isn’t likely to happen, but of course I’d have women in Augusta. Sure.”

Romney, the likely Republican presidential nominee, was speaking at Mountain Energy Services, a company that provides transportation for fluids involved in fracking, a process for extracting natural gas from shale.

Earlier Thursday, the White House said Obama believes women should be allowed to join the Georgia club, where the Masters is taking place this week.

“It’s obviously up to the club to decide. But his personal opinion is that women should be admitted to the club,” presidential spokesman Jay Carney told reporters at his daily briefing.

Driving the renewed attention to the renowned golf club’s membership profile was the elevation of Virginia Rometty to chief executive of IBM, a title sponsor of the Masters.

Most of the company’s chief executives have been Augusta members.

When asked about the issue in his pre-tournament news conference this week, club chairman Billy Payne reiterated that “all issues of membership are now, and have been historically, subject to private deliberations of the members.”

Original source: Mitt Romney says women should be admitted to Augusta