Sure it is. And Tiger Woods will publicly endorse Obama in the 2012 Presidential election. Right?
Normally, the eyes glaze over when they come across stories about Augusta considering a change to its men only membership policies. But not in the case of this column in Golf Digest. For one thing, the source - the magazine's columnist Jaime Diaz - is extremely high grade; as well-connected as he is thoughtful. He is not the type to be flying kites. Plus, what he writes has more than an air of authenticity.
Now is when Augusta National traditionally does its best work, as the course lies fallow and the brain trust reflects on the last Masters.
Of course, the Vatican's conclave of cardinals leaves more clues about what gets discussed. But I'm guessing that one topic of discussion for the green jackets will be the implications of the midweek cameo by Condoleezza Rice, who not only made herself more visible at the club than any political figure since President Eisenhower, but then blogged about it for a cheeky website, The Daily Beast.
With power brokers, little happens by accident. The ex-Secretary of State's first trip to Augusta seemed designed to further establish her sports-maven persona, including a presentation to NFL owners and turning down the Pac-10 Conference commissionership. As for Augusta National, having a member escorting an African-American woman around the grounds didn't do the club's image any harm.
Another interesting passage concerns Martha Burk, the Washington-based women's rights activist who fought an admirable (albeit losing) battle with the club's previous chairman, the dreadful Hootie Johnson.
And though Burk's campaign was judged a failure at the time, since then she has played a role in settlements totaling nearly $80 million on behalf of women who work for companies whose executives belong to Augusta National.
Mind you, Diaz isn't infallible. I had to laugh at the passage suggesting "Augusta's moral authority on the issue (of "no female members") has diminished" since Johnson stopped running the club. How could its moral authority have diminished when it never had any in the first place?
