Sponsors return to Augusta as issues subside

Two years after Martha Burk ruffled feathers at Augusta National by protesting at the club's strictly men only policy, things appear to have returned to normal.

The gates of the famous club remained firmly closed, out of bounds and off-limits to women on Wednesday, with the battle seemingly won by club chairman Hootie Johnson.

Golf's most private club, whose secret membership includes former-U.S. presidents and some of the world's wealthiest businessmen, guards its privacy with the zealousness of a Swiss bank, leaving few topics open for discussion at Johnson's pre-Masters media conference.

"We've adopted a new policy, we don't talk about club matters, period," Johnson stated, refusing to be drawn on the subject of whether Augusta National will ever admit women as members.

Two years ago that single incendiary question sparked a war of the sexes, with the U.S. Masters and Augusta National as the battle ground, forcing everyone from Tiger Woods to six-times Masters champion and Augusta member Jack Nicklaus to take sides.

While Burk, the chairwoman of the National Council of Women's Organizations (NCWO) led the fight for feminists, 74-year-old Johnson manned the ramparts for his club.

"There may well come a day when women will be invited to join our membership, but that timetable will be ours, and not at the point of a bayonet," Johnson declared at the time.

The controversy cast a shadow over the year's first major, but Johnson and Augusta National appear to have come through the challenge unscathed.

The protesters have gone and the sponsors are back, having taken cover over the last two years to avoid being caught up in the crossfire.

One of the world's prime sports advertising properties, the Masters aired without commercials in 2003 and 2004 but has welcomed back ExxonMobil, SBC Communications and IBM as sponsors of this year's tournament.

"Well, I guess order is restored, and we are happy to have them back," said Johnson. "I said once, and I will repeat it, that we could go on indefinitely without sponsors.

"However, we do have a huge project underway in moving 3,000 cars off our ground on to properties adjacent to our club and then preparing that land for the building of the practice facility that we think the Masters tournament deserves.

"This will be pretty demanding financially. It would stretch out a long time without sponsors, so we are happy to have them."

However, Johnson and sponsors will not escape this year's Masters completely unchallenged.

On the eve of Thursday's opening round, Burk announced she was launching a legal action against the Augusta Golf Club and Masters tournament's current and past sponsors.

In a teleconference scheduled for Thursday, Burk will also discuss allegations raised in her new book: Cult of Power: Sex Discrimination in Corporate America and What Can Be Done About It.

It is a book unlikely to ever be found on Johnson's shelf.