Augusta National Golf Club, the oldest old boys club in America, has finally accepted its first two women members, and one of them is former Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice. Joining Rice on the "ticket" is Darla Moore, a financier considered to be one of the most powerful and successful women in this history of finance. Moore is the president of Rainwater, Inc., an investment company founded by her husband Richard Rainwater. She's also the namesake of the Moore School of Business at the University of South Carolina.

As one of the few remaining holdouts among private country clubs that refused to admit women, Augusta National has long been a target for women's rights groups that have tried to pressure to club to open its doors wider. Their stubbornness was made even more obvious every April when the course hosts the most famous tournament in all of golf, The Masters. This past April, IBM CEO  Virginia "Ginni" Rometty, was not invited to play even as her company sponsored of the event.  Every previous CEO of IBM had been admitted, but it appears she still is not a member. Despite boycott of sponsors and overwhelming negative publicity, club officials refused to give in, if only avoid the appearance of being made to bow to public pressure.

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Dashiell Bennett