The once all-male Augusta National, home of Masters golf major, will accept more women

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Former US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice shakes hands with Karson Adkins during the Drive, Chip and Putt Championship at Augusta National Golf Club. Augusta National Golf Club, exclusively male for most of its history, boasts only three female members but is set to welcome more, chairman Billy Payne said. Photo: AFP

Published: 4:03am, 6 Apr 2017

Augusta National Golf Club, exclusively male for most of its history and host of the Masters golf major tournament, boasts only three female members but is set to welcome more, chairman Billy Payne said Wednesday.

Former US secretary of state Condoleezza Rice broke the Augusta glass ceiling in 2012 when she and financier Darla Moore became the first women members at the club, established in 1933, which hosts the 81st Masters tournament from Thursday.

A third woman, IBM chief executive Virginia Rometty, joined the club in 2004, but when asked about the sparsity of female faces, Payne indicated that more women would be invited to join.

“Well, of course, we would not give you the profile of our incoming members before they know about it,” he told a news conference.

“But I think that you will find, through time, that women have become a wonderful addition to our club, and there will be more in the future, certainly.”

Financier Darla Moore and former US Secretary of State Condoleeza Rice smile as both are members of Augusta National Golf Club, the first female members in its 80-year history. The Club, which hosts the first major golf tournament in the Masters, said it looks forward to having more female members. Photo: AP

Augusta National has around 300 members on an invitation-only basis and no public list of names exists, although some of the world’s richest and most influential people are thought to be among them.