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Sex discrimination at Augusta National is par for the course

As the 67-year old Masters Tournament begins today, all eyes areon Tiger Woods as he prepares to establish another first andcapture his third consecutive Masters title.

While the champion of the famed tournament will don a greenblazer, others will don blush-red faces and postures of ire whilepicketing the tourney.

I have heard that Augusta National is one of the most beautifulcreations in the world, however, I shall never know, unless ofcourse Martha Burk has her way.

Burk heads the National Council of Women's Organization and isleading a protest of the Masters Tournament and Augusta National.Despite protests, the show will go on, with no women in theclub.

Golf is a wonderful game that is challenging, relaxing andspiritual. It is a great game. People that play golf understand myendearment of the game.

My problem with the Masters is the location of the event --Augusta National Golf Club. This club is one of the mostprestigious golf venues in the United States. It boasts thebragging rights of owning and hosting the Masters Golf Tournamenteach year. It also boasts mightily its male-only policy.

How barbaric and Tarzan like.

This policy goes against everything golf is supposed to be about-- character building, truth and sportsmanship.

How exactly does sex discrimination support these fundamentalelements?

Hootie Johnson, president of the male-only club, has said theclub has a right to practice sex discrimination,that it is all intradition.

He said, "private organizations are good."

Are they? Is it good to discriminate on any basis?

I applaud Martha Burk and her supporters. This is an outrage. Itis embarrassing that we bemoan the state of women in Afghanistanwhen, we as a country still openly practice sex discrimination.

CBS will be broadcasting the event. This is no surprise sinceCBS has been in bed with the PGA and its Masters Tournament for 46years.

Why should we expect its leadership to take a stand againstAugusta National and its policy? That would mean the loss ofmillions of male and female viewers. They want the support of womenas viewers, stockholders, employees and advertisers, but they alsochoose to advocate sex discrimination.

What should we expect when CBS broadcast the men's NCAA finalgame on Monday, but on Tuesday, basketball fans had to watch thewomen's final game on ESPN?

It is worth mentioning, however, that the deceased former CEO ofCBS, Thomas H. Wyman, gave up his membership in December 2002stating that he did not agree with Johnson's position. At least onebrave soul voiced his opposition to the absurd policy. That justleaves us with current CEOs and board members of top companies whoare members of Augusta National and therefore sanction the club'spolicy. The list includes: Coca-Cola, IBM, Microsoft, Coors,Motorola, Viacom, JPMorganChase, Hormel Foods, Bank of America,MorganStanley, AT&T, Ford Motor Company and General Electric.You know, many of those ivy leaguers at Harvard have board membersand deans who are members.

I will go a step further and say Tiger Woods is a hypocrite aswell.

He spoke out about clubs that still practice race discriminationwhen negotiating a major contract with Nike, however, he sure ismute on the subject of sexual discrimination.

I will also add that Augusta National only began admittingAfrican-American males in 1990 -- not so long ago, and only undergreat pressure.

Washington Post columnist Tony Kornheiser has writen that MarthaBurk should be quiet and the Augusta National policy has nothing todo with women's suffrage.

Maybe not, Mr. Kornheiser. But this is certainly a valid issueand it is all about women and our rights.

In a staunch move, Johnson has dismissed the only televisionsponsors of the Masters -- Citigroup, Coca-Cola and IBM. Then Burkchallenged the CEOs of these companies, all members of AugustaNational, to live up to their corporate policies against sexdiscrimination.

This makes this year's broadcast of the Masters the firstcommercial-free sporting event on network television. Wow!!

Johnson wanted to protect his longtime sponsors fromembarrassment -- I don't think he succeeded.

Johnson and all the members at Augusta National are a greatembarrassment to the sport of golf, male and female citizens, theincessant struggle for women's equality and America at large.

Hootie, you must have made your mother very proud.


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