Shame on Augusta

A lot of issues have confusing, gray nuances. This one doesn't. Augusta National Golf Club, the country club where the Masters Tournament is held every year, has refused to admit the recently installed CEO of IBM, Virginia Rometty, as a member because she is a woman. Since IBM has been a major sponsor of the Masters Tournament for many, the previous four CEO's, all male, were made members.

The ridiculous argument the Club's members and supporters are making is that they have the right to associate with whoever they want. Really? Are you telling me you don't want to associate with women? I have a few other questions. Do you only do business with men? Do you only go to church with men? Do you only go on vacation with men? Do you only have sex with men? If you saw a woman broken down on the side of the road would you let her in your car? Do you practice chivalry towards women?

I could probably think of 50 more questions that render the argument just as irrelevant. The 19th amendment, passed in 1920 should have put an end to this argument. Of course, the club is in Georgia, which naturally leads me to the question of how many black members they have. I would guess not many. I would agree that the club should be free to determine its own guidelines for membership. However, sex or race should not be among those criteria.

If the golfers participating in the Masters Tournament had any real balls, they would boycott the tournament until the club admits a female member. Perhaps the loss of millions of dollars in attendance and sponsorship fees would be enough to shake the Jurassic minds of the Augusta National Golf Club members out of their sexist stupor. We all know that closed minded men need to be hit in their wallets before they'll listen to reason.