Head of national women's group encouraged that Augusta golf club members seeking compromise

Sunday, September 29th 2002, 12:00 am

By: News On 6

NEW YORK (AP) _ The chairwoman of a national women's group said she was encouraged Sunday by a report that several members of Augusta National would seek to have the golf club admit at least one female.

``I'm gratified that some of the members are starting to see that this is good for the club,'' Martha Burk said by phone Sunday. ``I hope now that they've initiated some action in this area, some of the other members will join them.''

Burk, chairwoman of the National Council of Women's Organizations, thinks letters her organization sent Thursday to several prominent members of Augusta _ which hosts the annual Masters Tournament _ could have prompted them to seek the compromise reported in The New York Times.

The newspaper reported Sunday that about a dozen of the club's roughly 300 members sought a compromise to end a conflict with women's groups critical of Augusta's all-male membership.

Burk said about a half-dozen other letters were sent during the weekend to other prominent members, including Louis V. Gerstner, chairman of IBM.

``It's something of an embarrassment when a major company spends a lot of money and effort to recruit women employees and then the CEO is a member of the club that excludes them,'' Burk said. ``We're asking for on-the-record responses to reconcile this with their corporate policy.''

After Burk wrote to him in June, club chairman Hootie Johnson said he would not be ``bullied'' into admitting women members.

When Burk then wrote to the tournament's three television sponsors, Johnson dropped all three for the 2003 Masters in an effort to shield them from the controversy.

The newspaper reported that several members planned to come up with a compromise, such as admitting one or two women as members before or shortly after the next Masters, in April. They said they will press their case to the membership when the club reopens next month.

The 69-year-old Johnson, recovering from heart surgery, declined the Times' requests for an interview, the newspaper said. A spokesman for Augusta also told the newspaper the club would not comment.