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Woman's out-rage
LPGA teaching pro turned away after 20 years
Posted: Saturday April 12, 2003 7:35 PM
Updated: Saturday April 12, 2003 8:04 PM
By TARA GRAVEL
Senior Editor, GOLF MAGAZINE
AUGUSTA, Ga. -- Jean Harris didn't come to Augusta National to protest; she came to watch a
golf tournament. The longtime member of the LPGA Teaching and Club Pro
Division says she's been visiting the Masters, using her LPGA Card as ID,
for 20 years. But this year she was turned away.
"I drove 100 miles to get here, paid $20 to park, and then they wouldn't
accept my credentials," Harris said. "They said they only let in LPGA Tour
players. Well, Annika's not coming."
Harris, who has a doctorate in education and a Master Pro credential, was
steamed that PGA of America members are allowed in -- they always have
been -- while she was not. She did the only thing she knew to do. She walked to
the site of Martha Burk's protest a half-mile away and grabbed a sign: "Women
pay while CEOs play."
"I came here because I can't get into the tournament. I've been discriminated
against. It's too much of a coincidence," Harris said, referring to LPGA
teaching pros being excluded in the same year as the Augusta membership
controversy.
The club had a different explanation. "The policy has never changed," says
spokesman Glenn Greenspan. "It's always been LPGA Tour players only." He
explained that security was tightened this year because of the war in Iraq
and the membership controversy, so the security guards simply caught the discrepancy
between the LPGA Tour player cards and those of the teaching division.
A source close to the LPGA confirmed that for the first time this year, Tour
players carry a photo ID badge, while the LPGA T&CP pros do not. It wasn't
much consolation for Harris, who says she was asked for the photo ID at the
gate.
"It's pretty much been understood that we can get in with our LPGA cards,"
she said. "If they looked at the records the club could see I've come for a
number of years [as an LPGA pro, she had to sign in]. My question is, this
is not a PGA [of America] sanctioned event, but they let the PGA pros in, why
not the LPGA?
"Saying that I've been lucky all these years to get in, and that it was a
mistake, doesn't make me feel better."
So why does Augusta National allow PGA of America members through the gates
and not LPGA teaching pros? The LPGA has about 1,200 T&CP members, while the
PGA of America has more than 27,000.
"I can just say that we have different things for different people,"
Greenspan said. "I feel bad, but she probably was lucky to get in before."
LPGA Commissioner Ty Votaw could not be reached for comment Saturday on
whether the LPGA ever has, or ever will, protest the discrepancy.
You can E-mail your comments to Tara Gravel at: tara.gravel@time4.com.
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