Tiger Woods, and the unspoken legacy at the Masters

While we are discussing these "scandals" related to Tiger Woods' penalty, let’s not forget to talk about the Master Tournament host’s vicious history of sexism and racism.

Now as a sports-deprived nation turns its attention to golf, we spent all day yesterday aghast at how the Masters assessed the 14-year old Chinese golfer Tianlang Guan a one-stroke penalty for slow play.

Tiger Woods ShutterstockToday the round-the-clock coverage has been about how the Masters’ authorities assessed Tiger a two-stroke penalty for moving a dropped ball back a few feet.   So oh no, Tiger might not win his 5th Masters, he might not catch Jack, he might not be G.O.A.T.

And while we are discussing these “scandals”, let’s not talk about the Master Tournament’s vicious history of sexism and racism.


Let’s not talk about how it was not until 1990 that the Augusta National Golf Club admitted its first black member, a by-invitation-only procedure.   Augusta’s pathetic tokenism was apparent in the statement of its directors stating:  “Augusta National had been looking for a black to invite to join the club for the past year.”   A black.  Not opening the gates, not addressing history of prejudice and exclusion.    “Looking for a black to invite.”   I don’t know if  tokenism can be encapsulated any more directly.

There have been lots of sentimental reminders about “good ole boy” Bubba Watson winning the Masters, and serving chicken and corn for the usually elegant dinner. [The menu is dictated by the Master’s champion.]    Forgotten and buried has been the racist comments from Fuzzy Zoeller in 1997 about the same Tiger Woods, stating:  “He’s doing quite well, pretty impressive. That little boy is driving well and he’s putting well. He’s doing everything it takes to win. So, you know what you guys do when he gets in here? You pat him on the back and say congratulations and enjoy it and tell him not to serve fried chicken next year. Got it….[and then added] or collard greens or whatever the hell they serve.”

And let us not talk about Augusta’s history of sexism, where it was only last year, after years of pressure, two elite women were invited to join the Master’s Augusta National Golf Club for the first time.  The two were Condoleezza Rice and Darla Moore.

This reluctant admission of token members came after years of activism led by Martha Burke of National Council of Women’s Organizations.   “Hootie” Johnson had defended his decision to keep Augusta all-male (as it had been all-White for decades) on the following ground:

Condoleezza Rice shutterstock

Our membership is single gender just as many other organizations and clubs all across America. These would include junior Leagues, sororities, fraternities, Boy Scouts, Girl Scouts, and countless others. And we all have a moral and legal right to organize our clubs the way we wish.

A moral and legal right to remain all-male, and for decades, all-white.    The unspoken legacy of the Augusta National Golf Club that hosts the most prestigious golf tournament in the world every year.

Left unsaid by the gatekeepers of Augusta National Golf Club was that the Masters is perhaps the ultimate insiders club, a place where relationships are formed and deepened.  By systematically keeping out women, Augusta was in effect restricting women’s access to those corridors of power and influence, as they had done for decades to African-Americans.


Finally Bob Costas had the courage to bring up the discrepancy in an interview.   Good on him.

So as we celebrate the redemption of Tiger (winning cures all and erases all shortcomings, doesn’t it?), and we talk about the impact of the precocious 14-year old Chinese athlete on expanding the appeal of golf in China, let us take a moment to pause and reflect on the impact that Augusta National Club’s exclusionary policies have had for decades on the expansion of golf—and the political influence that goes along with it—among women, and African-Americans in this country.

Augusta masters

One is reminded of some of the lessons of the Civil Rights era, in which we were told that we have fought for too hard and too long against “segregated public accommodations” to end up segregating our own moral concerns.    Augusta is not a public accommodation, but their decades long recalcitrance has had a profoundly damaging impact on many Americans in our own country.

Of course the coverage will focus on the latest round of idol-worship, of celebrity-generation, of waxing poetics over the charm of the azaleas in Augusta in April twilight, and the green jackets.

Too bad far too many Americans were not permitted to see them for decades.

 

 

Images are from Shutterstock.

 

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