Getting Teed Off

By Bill Saporito Sunday, Sept. 08, 2002
    • In golfing terms, Hootie Johnson used too much club. When the chairman of Augusta National Golf Club — host of the prestigious Masters tournament — responded to a letter from Martha Burk, chairwoman of the National Council of Women's Organizations (NCWO), who was inquiring whether the all-male bastion would consider women for membership, his response wasn't a polite "Thank you for your interest, but this is a private club." Nope. Johnson swung from the heels. Gripped it and ripped it.

    He sent a terse get-lost note to Burk and then issued an incendiary press release asserting that Augusta would not be "bullied, threatened or intimidated" by the NCWO, which represents such groups as the American Nurses Association and the League of Women Voters. "We do not intend to become a trophy in their display case," Johnson declaimed. Then, in an unprecedented move, he booted the Masters' sponsors — Citigroup, Coca-Cola and IBM — so the companies wouldn't face criticism by association. The commercial-free move will cost the club some $7 million in forgone revenues.


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    Rather than snuffing the dispute, Johnson inflamed it, threatening the holy grail of corporate perks — membership at Augusta. Says Burk, taking the next shot: "We'd like to look at the corporations the members represent and how memberships can be reconciled with corporate policies against discrimination and marketing practices to women. And I would also be interested as to who is paying for the memberships."

    Because most corporations have policies that prohibit gender discrimination, membership of company officers at Augusta could be viewed as a conflict. Such leading lights as Sanford Weill of Citigroup and Warren Buffett of Berkshire Hathaway are members. So is Kenneth Chenault of American Express, one of a handful of black members at the Georgia golf club. Sources tell TIME that Microsoft co-founder Bill Gates recently became a member. General Electric is still paying the fees for retired chairman Jack Welch, according to papers filed in Welch's divorce proceedings. None of the golfing chiefs are talking: members are required to sign an agreement not to speak about the club, although one told Time anonymously that Johnson's move came as a surprise. Another source within Augusta said the club doesn't consider gender diversity to carry the same imperative as ethnic or racial diversity. "To us," says this insider, "there's a big difference."

    The corporations run by Augusta's members, however, don't make that distinction. Virtually every Fortune 500 CEO has made certain that women and minorities are represented on his or her board of directors. Coca-Cola, which settled a high-profile racial-discrimination case in 2000, tried to intervene with Augusta, but CEO Douglas Daft got nowhere. "We enjoyed our one-year sponsorship of the Masters," the company said in a statement. Citigroup told Burk in a letter that "we have communicated our views privately to the management of the [Masters] tournament. We believe that such a dialogue is the most constructive approach." The company also cited its selection by Working Mother as a top mom-friendly employer.

    The sponsors emphasize that their agreements are with the Masters tournament, not the club. (Never mind that the club runs the event.) IBM, in a letter to Burk, cited its support for women's groups and added, "We do not view our sponsorship of the Masters tournament as contradictory to this commitment." But in 1990 IBM pulled its sponsorship from the PGA Championship after learning that host club Shoal Creek, in Birmingham, Ala., had no black members. The club quickly integrated, and the PGA passed a rule that tour events can be held only at clubs open to all. The Masters, however, is not an official tour event.

    Burk isn't buying any of the tortured semantics, and she rejects criticism that her organization should focus on bigger issues. "What we do is fight discrimination against women where we find it," she says. Her group plans to keep up the pressure on CBS. The network, which since 1956 has produced the Masters on a break-even basis because of its prestige and promotional value, grimly announced that "CBS will broadcast the Masters next year." Come next April, might that include antidiscrimination protests held outside the most famous golf tournament in America?