Augusta National Golf Club

For years, officials of the Augusta National Golf Club flatly declined to discuss their membership policies, particularly when questioned about whether a woman would ever become a member at the stately but stuffy home of the Masters. That's why it was rare that Augusta National chairman Billy Payne released a statement Monday on the issue and announced something even more extraordinary, that two women - former Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice and South Carolina finance executive Darla Moore - had accepted invitations to become members.

Examining the membership makeup of the Augusta National Golf Club at Masters time is a ritual almost as routine as the awarding of the green jacket to the tournament champion. The club, established in 1932, accepted its first African-American member in 1990 but has yet to add a woman to its 300-member roster. The usually tight-lipped chairmen of the club, the most recent being Hootie Johnson, have explained that Augusta National has no exclusionary policies, but say no more. Yesterday, however, Johnson dropped his reticence on the matter and issued a three-page statement critical of a national women's group that has urged the club to admit female members in time for the 2003 Masters next spring.

What: 73rd Masters tournament When: Tomorrow through Sunday Where: Augusta National Golf Club, Augusta, Ga. Par: 36-36-72 Purse: To be determined ($7.5 million in 2008) The field: 96 players, including five amateurs CHAMPIONS OF 2000s: 2000: Vijay Singh 2001: Tiger Woods 2002: Tiger Woods 2003: Mike Weir 2004: Phil Mickelson 2005: Tiger Woods 2006: Phil Mickelson 2007: Zach Johnson 2008: Trevor Immelman THE COURSE: Length: 7,435 yards 1. Par 4, 445 Yards 2008 Difficulty: fourth 2. Par 5, 575 Yards 2008 Difficulty: 16th 3. Par 4, 350 Yards 2008 Difficulty: 14th 4. Par 3, 240 Yards 2008 Difficulty: fifth 5. Par 4, 455 Yards 2008 Difficulty: sixth 6. Par 3, 180 Yards 2008 Difficulty: 11th 7. Par 4, 450 yards 2008 Difficulty: third 8. Par 5, 570 yards 2008 Difficulty: 17th 9. Par 4, 460 yards 2008 Difficulty: seventh 10. Par 4, 495 yards 2008 Difficulty: second 11. Par 4, 505 yards 2008 Difficulty: first 12. Par 3, 155 yards 2008 Difficulty: 13th 13: Par 5, 510 yards 2008 Difficulty: 15th 14. Par 4, 440 2008 Difficulty: 12th 15. Par 5, 530 yards 2008 Difficulty: 18th 16. Par 3, 170 yards 2008 Difficulty: 10th 17. Par 4, 440 yards 2008 Difficulty: ninth 18. Par 4, 465 yards 2008 Difficulty: eighth Did you...

The New York Times suggested in an editorial yesterday that Tiger Woods skip the Masters next year because of the all-male membership at Augusta National Golf Club. "A tournament without Mr. Woods would send a powerful message that discrimination isn't good for the golfing business," the editorial said. Augusta National declined to comment. In interviews this month, Augusta National chairman Hootie Johnson was adamant that a woman would not be among the 300 members at Augusta by the start of the Masters in April.

The major championship that has haunted Greg Norman throughout his career is giving him another chance. He received a special invitation yesterday from Augusta National Golf Club to play in next year's Masters. "I'm not one to say a course owes me one, but given my record there and the fact that I know Augusta so well, perhaps something special will happen in April," Norman said. Norman has been a runner-up at the Masters three times, including his most memorable collapse in 1996, when he squandered a six-stroke lead against Nick Faldo in the final round by shooting a 78. Norman finished third three other times and was fourth when he debuted in 1981.

Anybody hoping for an update on any plans Augusta National Golf Club has for adding a woman member can forget it. "We've adopted a new policy," Hootie Johnson chairman of the club, said yesterday. "We don't talk about club matters, period. " The chairman's comments came yesterday during his annual pre-Masters news conference, which in recent years has been a bit contentious. Not this year, not with the powerful club having vanquished Martha Burk and any other foes on the issue of female members.

Two members of the Augusta National Golf Club, the two who have combined to win 10 Masters championships, teamed up to persuade club chairman William "Hootie" Johnson to rescind the age limit policy for the tournament. According to Jack Nicklaus, Arnold Palmer drafted a letter last month to send to Johnson to get him to rethink the rule which would have set 65 as the maximum age for past champions to compete, effective next year. The letter set in motion a series of events that ended with Johnson inviting Palmer and Nicklaus to Augusta National to inform them that the lifetime exemption for Masters champions had been reinstated.

Nick Faldo came to Augusta National Golf Club confident, prepared and ready to make his run at history, trying to become the first player to win back-to-back Masters titles twice. But Faldo departed the course for good midway through the event yesterday, using words such as "shell-shocked" and "flabbergasted" to describe what it was like to shoot a 9-over-par 81 and miss the 36-hole cut by 7 strokes. Although he worked two hours a day for more than a week preparing himself for the National's sinister greens, Faldo had the touch of a 5-year-old at your neighborhood Putt-Putt.

Twenty-one novices are playing at this year's Masters, the most since 1966, but all eyes are on one - Robert Gamez, the rising young rookie who captured two major victories already. Gamez made a bit of golf history yesterday by attending the pre-tournament mass interview, usually reserved for the likes of Jack Nicklaus and Greg Norman. And while golf is making a big deal out of Gamez, the 21-year-old rookie from the University of Arizona is not making a big deal out of Magnolia Lane, Amen Corner or the entire Masters scene at the Augusta National Golf Club.

Having lost its NFC package to Fox, CBS does not want to risk alienating the folks who run the Masters golf tournament, which has had a long and sometimes contentious relationship with the network. In 1966, CBS bumped Jack Whitaker from its Masters broadcast team after he referred to surging galleries at that year's tournament as a "mob scene. " The action was taken because the powers-that-be at Augusta National Golf Club let it be known in no uncertain terms that Whitaker's head had to roll, or else.

AUGUSTA, Ga. - There were no tears this time for Brandt Snedeker, who cried when he blew his shot at winning the Masters in 2008. But the lost opportunity Sunday still hurt. Snedeker, who shared the lead going into the final round, did not perform well in the rainy conditions at Augusta National Golf Club. He fired a 3-over-par 75 to drop into a tie for sixth at 284, 5 strokes out of the playoff won by Adam Scott over Angel Cabrera. "Just frustrated and disappointed," the 32-year-old Nashville native said.

AUGUSTA, Ga. - The roars through the hills and valleys of the Augusta National Golf Club let you know that Fred Couples was closing in on the leaders in the third round of the Masters. But other than yells of encouragement, there was mostly silence on Couples' last five holes, which he played in 5-over-par for a 77 that dropped him into a tie for 18th at 216. "I was very mediocre," said the 53-year-old Couples, the 1992 Masters champion. "I made a lot of pars, but I had just some mediocre swings.

AUGUSTA, Ga. - China's Guan Tianlang had been the talk of Augusta National Golf Club this week, impressing everyone with his golf game as a 14-year-old and the youngest contestant in the history of the Masters. After being assessed a 1-stroke penalty for slow play on the 17th green Friday during his second round, Guan impressed everyone with his class even though it could be said he was being made the scapegoat for the entire field playing at a snail's pace in the windy conditions. "I respect the decision they made," Guan said after a 3-over-par 75 left him at 4-over 148 for 36 holes and, for a time, in danger of missing the cut (though he did make it)

AUGUSTA, Ga. - Guan Tianlang called it a dream come true Thursday when he became the youngest player in Masters history to compete in the tournament. But it had to be even better to finish with a curling 20-foot birdie putt on the 18th hole for a 1-over-par 73, which tied the 14-year-old from China for 46th place in the 93-player field. "I feel great to play the first round here," Guan said. "I was just a little bit nervous on the first tee, but I hit a great tee shot on it and after that I just felt comfortable.

AUGUSTA, Ga. - The rivals to Tiger Woods have been lining up now for almost two decades. Some have stayed around. Others have faded from view or didn't deal well with having to overcome the relentless force that is Tiger. Now, Rory McIlroy, the golf world turns its lonely eyes to you as Woods' next big rival. When that likelihood was raised on Tuesday at Augusta National Golf Club to McIlroy, who just relinquished his world No. 1 ranking to Woods, his eyes grew wide under the tugged-down brim of his Nike cap. "Not at all," McIlroy said.

AUGUSTA, Ga. - "The Shot" has been replayed on television maybe hundreds of times, the strike off pine straw from 164 yards out that Bubba Watson managed to hook at almost a 90-degree angle around some trees and onto the 10th green, where he 2-putted for par and a victory in a playoff last year at the Masters. As one can imagine, that spot well to the right of Augusta National Golf Club's 10th fairway has attracted a lot of attention from fans this week while 93 contestants prepared for Thursday's first round of golf's first major championship of 2013.

AUGUSTA, Ga. - Growing up in China, Guan Tianlang was drawn to the game of golf by Tiger Woods, which is why it was fitting that the pair got in a late practice round together for the Masters on a sun-splashed Monday afternoon. Like Woods, Guan is ready to make an impact at Augusta National Golf Club. When he tees off on Thursday, he will be the youngest player - at 14 years, five months, and 17 days old - to compete in the Masters, having earned the right by winning the Asia-Pacific Amateur last November in Thailand.

For years, officials of the Augusta National Golf Club flatly declined to discuss their membership policies, particularly when questioned about whether a woman would ever become a member at the stately but stuffy home of the Masters. That's why it was rare that Augusta National chairman Billy Payne released a statement Monday on the issue and announced something even more extraordinary, that two women - former Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice and South Carolina finance executive Darla Moore - had accepted invitations to become members.

AUGUSTA, Ga. - For 63 holes of the 75th Masters, 21-year-old Rory McIlroy played mostly outstanding golf against the best of the game's current crop of players, and started the back nine Sunday in the final round at Augusta National Golf Club with a 1-stroke lead. Then his whole world unraveled. McIlroy played the next three holes in 6-over par to sharply fall down the leader board, and he finished up with an 8-over-par 80 to tumble into a tie for 15th. He began the day with a 4-stroke lead over a group of four players that included eventual champion Charl Schwartzel, and lost by a staggering 14 shots.

AUGUSTA, Ga. - With eight players having held at least a share of the lead during Sunday's wacky final round of the Masters, keeping track of what was going on tended to be a little tricky, at least for Charl Schwartzel every time he looked at the leader board. "Every single hole you walk down, someone has done something," Schwartzel said, referring to the roars Sunday that echoed through Augusta National Golf Club. "I'd be lying if I said I wasn't looking at the leader board. But sometimes I would look at it and not register what I was looking at. "I think that sort of helped.