Augusta National women’s membership: A look at every female member of Augusta (that we know of!)
The female members at Augusta National Golf Club always have been a buzzy topic in the golf world. In 2012, Augusta National welcomed its first two women, former Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice and business executive Darla Moore.
When Rice and Moore joined the club, August National announced the news far and wide. But Augusta’s member rolls are not typically publicized. However, it’s known that at least four more women have joined the approximately 300 members at one of the world’s most exclusive golf clubs, which will host the 85th Masters Tournament on April 8-11.
How did these women gain entry to this private club? They are brilliant, strategic, driven and philanthropic. In other words, their legacies align with those of Augusta National and its membership. Let’s take a closer look.
Condoleezza Rice is one of the first two women to join Augusta National Golf Club. As an African-American woman who worked in several positions in politics and academics, most famously as former President George W. Bush’s secretary of state, Rice is no stranger to smashing glass ceilings.
Rice is a professor at Stanford University and holds myriad interests that, frankly, make her even more impressive. She studied Russian in Moscow, learned to play the piano and still closely tracks the sports world. Once she took up golf, she became a no-brainer addition to Augusta National Golf Club.
Darla Moore joined Augusta National alongside Condoleezza Rice. Known on Wall Street as “The Toughest Babe in Business,” Moore certainly made an impact on the banking world. In fact, she was the highest-paid female banker in the industry and became the first woman to grace the cover of Fortune magazine.
A South Carolina native, Moore returned to her home state after Wall Street. Her philanthropic efforts have supported the state’s education system; even the business school at her alma mater, the University of South Carolina, is named after her.
Though work keeps her busy, Moore is a golfer and a golf fan. She not only enjoys the Masters Tournament but also reportedly plays occasional rounds at Augusta National.
Virginia “Ginni” Rometty was appointed the first female CEO of IBM, in 2012. As an official sponsor of the Masters, IBM traditionally has had its CEOs offered membership to Augusta National. In 2014, Rometty received the same invitation as her IBM male predecessors and became Augusta’s third female member.
Like Rice and Moore, Rometty owns an impressive resume. Forbes once named her the 10th most powerful woman in the world. Not only did she push IBM to new heights in the data world, but she also earned her company recognition for establishing and promoting women’s programs that brought females back to the workforce after raising children.
Rometty, who holds a 35 handicap, retired last year.
Diana Murphy joined Augusta National in 2018 after two years as U.S. Golf Association president. Like IBM CEOs, the USGA presidents typically receive invitations to join Augusta.
Murphy, the USGA’s second female president, spent her two one-year terms assisting with revisions to the Rules of Golf and increasing participation in the LPGA-USGA Girls Golf program, along with other junior-golf initiatives. Murphy also continued to run her private-equity firm, Rocksolid Holdings, before and during her presidency, and she remains its managing director.
© GOLFFILE / FRAN CAFFREY / 2012 FILE
Murphy learned golf from her brother. Her husband, Reg Murphy, preceded her as a USGA president. She continues to play golf. Clearly, her love for the game took root, and her passion has changed golf for the better.
Ana Botin, the fifth female member to join Augusta National, is the club’s first Spanish woman in a green jacket. She made Forbes’ 2020 list of the most powerful women in finance.
Botin is celebrated in her home country for her banking prowess and connections to golf. Her late brother-in-law, two-time Masters champion Seve Ballesteros, is one of the most decorated Spanish golfers of all time. Botin is an avid golfer herself, maintaining an 8 handicap as she continues her impressive work as executive chairman of Banco Santander.
Heidi Ueberroth joined Augusta National as its sixth female member in 2019. The same year, the club hosted its first women’s amateur tournament, the Augusta National Women’s Amateur.
Ueberroth, the daughter of Peter Ueberroth, the former Major League Baseball commissioner and co-chairman of Pebble Beach Co., which owns the iconic California course, has been a big player in sports marketing for more than 30 years. She spent the majority of her career with the NBA and now is the president of Globicon, a sports-and-entertainment private-investment firm. In 2020, Ueberroth was named co-chairman of the board of directors at Pebble Beach and will continue as director of the AT&T Pebble Beach Pro-Am’s host non-profit, the Monterey Peninsula Foundation.
Though Augusta National Golf Club took 78 years to admit women to its membership, the club has chosen some powerful, impactful females for its roster. Augusta National’s female members have continued to make their mark on the golf industry. You could say they earned their green jackets.
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