http://www.forbes.com/sites/kurtbadenhausen/2012/08/20/augusta-national-takes-heat-off-sponsors-with-addition-of-women/
The Masters in the most exclusive golf
tournament in the world. It convenes once a year in April at the Augusta
National Golf Club, an exclusive club that notoriously is men only. It is even
exclusive with its sponsors, only 3 for the most prestigious golf club/
tournament. AT&T, Exxon Mobil, and IBM are the current sponsors for the
past 10 years or so. All CEOs of the company have received invitations for
membership to Augusta National, all CEOS men. However there was some
controversy when IBM's new CEO Virginia Rometty took the reins of the tech
giant in January. The club and tournament didn't want to loose IBM's
sponsorship. The club acted quickly and announced that two women were
invited to join the historically all-male bastion, ahead of when the club opens
for a new season in October. Former Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice and
South Carolina financier Darla Moore accepted their invitations. This action
not only got Augusta more sponsorship request but also made the trio's
investment worth much more.
It seems ridiculous that this is just now happening. Not only is it the "right" thing to do, it could have grown and expanded their market much earlier if this was taken into consideration.
ReplyDeleteThis will help create more opportunity for our economy. This will help with more money flow which then will help with creating more jobs for the economy reducing our unemployment level. With more competition adds more sponsorship means more money involved then helps our economy.
ReplyDeleteAugusta is predominately an all men club taking a traditionalist approach to the golf game where it was once only a mans game. I believe that Augusta National keeps tradition strong by sticking with old customs. Since it is a course so deeply rooted in tradition I believe it will be extremely hard for more females to hold memberships there. Also a side note is that there is no LPGA event at Augusta.
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