Change inevitable at Augusta?

In the small, cluttered office of Martha Burk, the woman who set teeth gnashing at the home of the Masters, the most urgent issue of the day is not whether Augusta National Golf Club will allow female members.

That will happen sooner or later, whether it comes this month from the pressure she's putting on members who are CEOs of major corporations, or after the Masters next spring when women's groups are likely to set up picket lines if the club doesn't change its policy.

It will happen because Augusta National's chairman, William "Hootie" Johnson, is fighting the wrong fight against the wrong woman - a smart, experienced advocate who also happens to be right. This is not an issue of political correctness or a challenge to the rights of all private clubs. This is about sex discrimination, pure and simple, by a large group of businessmen with national clout.

"It's become emblematic of the sexism that is still going on in the sport and outside the sports world," Burk said. "Augusta has to open up or it has to stop wanting to be what it is, which is the premier golf venue and a club of great influence. The CEOs who are members are going to be under extreme scrutiny."

Burk is busy on the phone this afternoon about a far weightier matter - a potential swing in the balance of the Senate - that could have an impact on legislation crucial to the National Council of Women's Organizations she chairs.

Welfare reform, Social Security, women in the military, women in Afghanistan - those are some of the big issues Burk is tackling on behalf of the council, which represents about 160 groups and 7 million women.

At the moment, though, all the reporters and television networks want to know is what's next in her battle with Augusta National.

"I would kill for this kind of coverage on our other issues," Burk says.

Augusta National's men-only policy is a symbolic issue and a legitimate concern of activists like Burk, who wrote a private letter to Johnson in June urging female membership and was shocked by his blistering, public reply that the club would not be "bullied, threatened or intimidated."

Augusta National's membership policy is not the private matter of a small private club. It's a disgrace that a club, whose 300 or so members include politicians and leaders of powerful corporations, continues to exclude women as members - just as it excluded blacks until 1990, when a controversy raged over all-white Shoal Creek in Alabama.

This is the old-boys' club at its archaic worst, influential men comparing themselves to the Boy Scouts.

"These guys are not Boy Scouts," Burk says. "They're CEOs of America's major corporations and we know that business is done there. Their policy places businesswomen at a disadvantage at that venue."

According to the once-secret list acquired by Burk, members include Sanford L. Weill of Citigroup, Louis V. Gerstner of IBM, Peter Coors of Coors Brewing, Kenneth Chenault of American Express, Christopher B. Galvin of Motorola, and William B. Harrison of J.P. Morgan Chase.

Former Corning CEO Amo Houghton, now a New York congressman, is a member, as is his brother, James Houghton, the current Corning chairman. So are U.S. Olympic Committee CEO Lloyd Ward and former U.S. senator and Coca-Cola board member Sam Nunn.

"In their public face as CEOs, these guys make a big deal out of how much they want to hire women and how much they value women as customers," Burk says. "Then we find that in their private life, they're willing to associate themselves with a club that excludes those very women."

Burk has written in the past week to more than 20 of the business leaders, saying that it's "very disturbing" that they are associated with a club that is "publicly flaunting its practice of sex discrimination."

So far the businessmen have not responded, but Burk believes they are feeling the heat enough to press for a change of Augusta National's policy. She was heartened by a report in the New York Times that some members say they plan to seek an internal compromise.

Meanwhile, Burk is pushing on. She has concerns over whether corporate funds or tax dollars are going toward members' fees. She's questioning the legal status of the club, claiming it is legally organized as a for-profit corporation and exists mainly to produce the highly profitable Masters.

Johnson is still recuperating from heart surgery last month and could not be reached for comment. Augusta National spokesman Glenn Greenspan declined to comment on the club's legal status, member fees, any upcoming meeting or whether there's been a move toward resolution of the women's issue.

Augusta National is famous for guarding its privacy. This time, the club would serve itself better by opening up and letting women in.

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