Augusta National Golf Club welcomed its first women as members on Monday. They are former Secretary of State Condoleeza Rice of California and Darla Moore, a business executive from South Carolina. Women had been excluded from joining the private club for 80 years. It was slow to adapt to social change in other ways as well: the first African American member joined in 1990, the Wall Street Journal reported.
Club and Masters Tournament Chairman Billy Payne announced the news on Aug. 20. “We are fortunate to consider many qualified candidates for membership at Augusta National. Consideration with regard to any candidate is deliberate, held in strict confidence and always takes place over an extended period of time. The process for Condoleezza and Darla was no different,” said Payne in a statement.
Rice and Moore are both extraordinary. Rice was the first African American female national security adviser, and is a political science professor at Stanford University. She is a concert pianist, an author, and a fellow with the Hoover Institution at Stanford.
Moore heads Rainwater, Inc., an investment company. She is a former banker and former University of South Carolina trustee.
