Augusta National Golf Club Admits Female Members

The momentous announcement comes 92 years after women in the U.S. earned the right to vote and about 80 years after the Augusta National Golf Club was open for play.

Today, the prestigious and legendary golf club has announced that it will admit two female members, former U.S. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice and South Carolina financier Darla Moore, when the clubs opens for its fall season in October.

The Huffington Post reported that Augusta National Chairman Billy Payne called the admittance a "joyous occassion."

In 2002, Martha Burk of the National Council of Women's Organizations wrote a letter to then chairman Hootie Johnson and urged the admittance of women to the club.

The club lost Masters television sponsors for two years when Johnson said they may one day admit women, "but not at the point of a bayonet."

Burk maintains that it was that push in 2002 that helped lead to Monday's historic announcement of female members.

However, others are saying that it was the fact that Viriginia Rometty, female CEO of IBM, was not invited to the Masters despite the fact that IBM was one of the main corporate sponsors of the Masters. The lack of an invitation ignited a firestorm in April.

Both Rice and Moore accepted the invitation to literally join what has been one of the longest-standing "boys' clubs" in the U.S.

The club began admitting African-Americans in 1990.

What do you think about Monday's announcement that women will be allowed into the prestigious club? Do you think the women should have accepted the invitations from a club which took 80 years to accept women? Tell us what you think in the comments below.