|
 |
|
|
September 30, 2002
Over The Weekend. . .
Over The Weekend. . . Reports leaked out of Augusta National Golf Club that a group of members are upset at the way club chairman Hootie Johnson is handling his public fight with Martha Burk and the National Council of Women's Organizations over admitting women to the club: Embarrassed and embattled, some of Augusta National's 300 or so members now say they plan to seek an internal compromise that would end the club's conflict with a coalition of women's groups. About a dozen members who were interviewed over the past three weeks said they had been distressed by the confrontational approach taken by the club's chairman, William Johnson. Johnson, who is known as Hootie, harshly rebuked Martha Burk, chairwoman of the National Council of Women's Organizations, after she wrote him in June urging the club to admit women as members. Some of the members said they had expressed their concerns to Johnson in private, and others said they had pressed their views with Johnson's allies in the small group that guides the club, which is in Augusta, Ga. All but 20 or so of the club's members, who are among the country's business, financial, political and sports elite, live outside Georgia. Several members said they intended to seek a face-saving middle ground, one that might mean welcoming one or two women as members either before or shortly after the Masters next April. Meanwhile, back here in Washington, D.C., Burk said she was "encouraged" by these reports. Whether or not Johnson, who is recovering from open heart surgery at home in South Carolina, is on board, is another question entirely. My guess is that we'll be hearing less and less about Augusta as we head into the Fall, with the debate picking up again sometime in February or March. Once Johnson rounds himself back into shape, I can't imagine he'll let this issue lay for very long at all either way.
Eric
01:52 PM
Trackback PingsTrackBack URL for this entry: CommentsPost a commentThanks for signing in, . (If you haven't left a comment here before, you may need to be approved by the site owner before your comment will appear. Until then, it won't appear on the entry. Thanks for waiting.) |