Obama, Romney Want Women as Members at Augusta Golf Club

Obama, Romney Want Women as Members at Augusta Golf Club

President Obama made his view clear on Thursday on the membership of women at the Augusta National Golf Club: They should be admitted.

The issue of the membership of women to the club that hosts most prestigious golf tournaments is being questioned because the CEO at IBM, Ginni Rometty, is a woman.

Masters tournament is now being sponsored by IBM which guarantees club membership for its officers.  The issue arises because the club does not allow women to join.

"The president's answer is yes, he believes women should be admitted," Jay Carney, White House press secretary, told reporters at a briefing.

Obama contends it is "up to the club to decide, (but) his personal opinion is that women should be admitted to the club."

Mitt Romney, Republican presidential candidate, also agreed when asked at a campaign event Thursday at Tunkhannock, Pennsylvania, if women should be admitted into Augusta National.

"Of course," he said. "I am not a member of Augusta. I don't know if I would qualify. My golf game is not that good. Certainly if I were a member, if I could run Augusta, which isn't likely to happen, of course I'd have women into Augusta."

Billy Payne, chairman of the Augusta National Golf Club, declined to comment specifically on Rometty during his annual media session on Wednesday,

"Well, as has been the case, whenever that question is asked, all issues of membership are now and have historically been subject to the private deliberation of members," he said. "That statement remains accurate; it remains my statement."

Ed Barbini, IBM spokesman, told CNN on Wednesday that the company would not give any comment with regards the controversy.

Posted by Andre Monohan on Friday April 06 2012, 8:44 AM EDT. Ref: Google. All trademarks acknowledged. Filed under Featured News. Comments and Trackbacks closed. Follow responses: RSS 2.0