Home to men-only Masters hosting first tournament for female golfers

[mystery-ak]

Home to men-only Masters hosting first tournament for female golfers
By Chris Mills Rodrigo - 04/03/19 07:56 PM EDT

The home to the men-only Masters golf tournament will host its first tournament for female golfers this Saturday.

The Augusta National Golf Club will host the Women’s Amateur Championship on a course that seven years ago did not even allow female members, according to Reuters.

30 women will play in the tournament, according to USA Today.

When newly appointed chairman of the Augusta National Fred Ridley announced the tournament last year, he said he considered the new tournament to be an extension of Masters week and hoped it would bring more attention to the women's game, according to the New York Times.

In 2003, Former Augusta chairman William Johnson said the golf club would not be forced into a decision on women members “at the point of a bayonet”.

Then in 2012, former Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice and financier Darla Moore became the first two women to be added as members.

The 54-hole tournament will be played the week before the 2019 Masters.

It is expected to be the most watched women’s golf tournament of 2019.

https://thehill.com/homenews/437284-home-to-men-only-masters-hosting-first-tournament-for-female-golfers

[mountaineer]

This is a small bone tossed to the women, in my opinion (big women's golf fan here). The first two days of the tournament are played on a nearby course. Then, after the cut today, the remaining golfers get a practice round at Augusta National on Saturday, followed by the final day of the competition. Attendance will be a small fraction of the throngs that attend the Masters and chew up the course each year.