AUGUSTA, GA — Augusta National Golf Club, Georgia’s premiere golf destination and home of The Masters golf tournament, on Monday said it has admitted two women as members for the first time: former U.S. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice and financier Darla Moore.
“This is a joyous occasion as we enthusiastically welcome Secretary Condoleezza Rice and Darla Moore as members of Augusta National Golf Club,” club President Billy Payne said in a statement.
The Georgia club’s previous status as a White male-only facility has created controversy in the past. Since 1934, it has played host to the annual Masters Tournament, one of the four major championships in professional golf, and the only major played each year at the same course. It was the number one ranked course in Golf Digest’s 2009 list of America’s 100 greatest courses. But its exclusive membership policies have drawn criticism, particularly its refusal to admit black members until 1990, a former policy requiring all caddies to be black, and its refusal to allow women to join until today.