For the first time ever, Augusta National Golf Club has added two female members.  Former Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice and South Carolina financier Darla Moore will become the first women wearing the traditional green jackets when the club opens for a new season in October.  

The move likely ends a debate that intensified in 2002 when Martha Burk of the National Council of Women's Organizations urged the club to include women among its members. Former club chairman Hootie Johnson stood his ground, even at the cost of losing Masters television sponsors for two years, when he famously said Augusta National might one day have a woman in a green jacket, "but not at the point of a bayonet."

"This is a joyous occasion," Augusta National chairman Billy Payne said Monday.  More here. PHOTO Golf Digest/Robert Gallagher.

Good for Augusta National for accepting two outstanding women into the fold.  No bayonets needed.

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