Women to Cool Protest?

Can Augusta National Golf Club and the National Council of Women’s Organizations hug and make up?

For the first time since the bitter dispute over permitting women to become members of the exclusive club began three months ago, a cooling-off period may be in the works. Martha Burk, chairwoman of the NCWO, raised the possibility Monday that the group would consider calling a halt to its campaign to pressure Augusta National to admit a female member before the Masters in April.

“That option is not off the table,” Burk said. “It’s certainly not out of the realm of possibility.

“I have thought about that idea, but this issue goes on and we go on as it develops.

“If our involvement is what is keeping them from inviting women into that club and we remove ourselves, we’ve taken away their excuse. But we’ve been used as an excuse all along.”

Burk said she does not consider the potential approach as “extending an olive branch.”

Said Burk: “If anyone is going to be extending an olive branch, they should be doing it to me.”

Sources with firsthand knowledge of the ongoing dispute believe that if the women’s group takes more of a dovish approach, there is a chance that Augusta National will add a female member, possibly before the Masters.

It also is believed that when Augusta National throws opens its doors for female members, more than one will enter. Speculation about who would be invited centers on former United States Golf Assn. President Judy Bell, the first woman to lead the USGA; U.S. Supreme Court Justice Sandra Day O’Connor, the first female justice to sit on the Supreme Court; and Carole Semple Thompson, winner of multiple amateur championships. However, insiders at the club say they have not heard discussions involving the name of any potential member.

Bell, who runs the USGA’s grants and fellowship program in Colorado Springs, Colo., says no one from Augusta National has contacted her to gauge her interest in becoming a member.

“I’m certainly not opposed to it,” said Bell, who indicated that at least some of her views run contrary to the NCWO’s position.

“I don’t see the club and the Masters as being one entity. I also think that’s why people join clubs, to pick who they want to be members and who they feel comfortable with.

“So I’ll just cross that bridge if I come to it. For any new member, it’s going to take some thought, if it’s going to happen. But I have to say I don’t have a problem with all the Masters has done for golf compared to this issue. If it’s going to happen, and women are going to become members, it’s got to be done with a lot of thought and not just as a reaction to this group, Martha Burk and her group.”

Burk and the NCWO have pressed Augusta National since June when she sent a letter to club chairman Hootie Johnson asking to discuss female membership at the club and also about adding a female member before the 2003 Masters. Johnson responded angrily and issued a strongly worded three-page statement in which he said that the club might allow female members at some time, but “not at the point of a bayonet.”

The controversy escalated three weeks ago when Johnson dropped the Masters’ television sponsors on CBS--Citigroup, Coca-Cola and IBM--after learning that Burk planned to question the companies about their association with a tournament held at a club she says “discriminates against women.”

Augusta National, founded in 1932 by Bobby Jones, has about 300 members. The club has no official policy to exclude women, but it has never had a female member. The first African American invited to play the Masters tournament, began in 1934, was Lee Elder in 1975. The first African American became a member of Augusta National in 1990. Women are allowed to play the course, but as guests.

Any change in the direction for the NCWO would signal that the organization succeeded in shining its intended spotlight on the membership issue at Augusta National and also was able to take the idea of female membership in front of a nationwide stage.

“It’s not about winning or losing; it’s about breaking down a barrier,” Burk said.

She also indicated a flexibility in the demand for a female member before next April’s tournament, establishing something of a grace period of undetermined length.

“Not years, for sure,” Burk said.

A spokesman for Augusta National had no comment. Johnson is the only Augusta National member cleared to make statements for the club, but he is recovering from heart surgery Friday and unavailable for comment.

Similarly, a spokesman for the PGA Tour said he could not comment.

At the same time, the NCWO is pressing on with its plans to contact CBS and call into question the network’s affiliation with what Burk has called a club that practices discriminatory policies. She said the NCWO lawyers are reviewing her letter to CBS and that she expects to receive approval to send it when her board of directors meets Wednesday in Washington.

Burk said she follows a chain of command.

“Unlike Hootie Johnson, I don’t make decisions unilaterally,” she said.

Burk said she also intends to contact Augusta National members and investigate how their dues are paid.

However, Burk termed both tactics as “options,” just as she described a potential cooling-off period as an option. She said there is a certain amount of faith involved in such a plan.

“We’d be taking them at their word, give them an opportunity and we’ll see if they’ll do what they say they’ll do.”

If this new approach is taken and if Augusta National, no longer challenged, changes the nature of its membership, Burk said her response will be simple.

“We’re not going to gloat. We’ll just congratulate them and get back to what we do.”