The Augusta National officials in a dilemma to invite a woman in the Masters – Golf News
Since the inaugural event of the Masters Tournament in 1933, no female golfer has been invited to play among the male golfers from all over the world.
However, the Chief Executive Officer of International Business Machines Corp. (IBM), Ginni Rometty, has the chance to become the first woman ever to be featured in the Masters.
The Masters has the tradition of inviting the CEO's of the sponsors that include IBM, Exxon Mobil Corp. (XOM) and AT&T Inc. each year.
On the other hand, IBM has recently appointed Rometty at the position of CEO. Therefore, the tournament officials are now trapped in a dilemma of what to do about the invitation.
Either way, they will have to break a tradition: whether the introduction of female player in the tournament or not sending an invitation to the main sponsor of the event.
Martha Burk, who headed the campaign of including female members to the Masters field, 10 years ago, said that both are currently in a bind.
She pressurised the tournament officials a decade ago by saying that four major sponsors called off their deals with the event because of the discrimination.
However, her efforts did not work and the tournament remained womanless. Once again, the debate has started and this time there is a candidate available too.
Last year, Rometty was listed at number seven among the ‘50 Most Powerful Women in Business’ stated by the Fortune magazine.
"IBM is in a bigger bind than the club," Burk said. "The club trashed their image years ago. IBM is a corporation. They ought to care about the brand, and they ought to care about what people think. And if they're not careful, they might undermine their
new CEO".
"What IBM needs to do is draw a line in the sand — 'We're either going to pull our sponsorship and membership and any ancillary activities we support with the tournament, or the club is going to have to honour our CEO the way they have in the past,'" she
added.
The Augusta National officials have not commented on the issue yet as they do not disclose the membership issues publicly. Moreover, the IBM also has not confirmed its stance on the current issue.
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