Masters Host to Admit Blacks

AUGUSTA, Ga. —  The Augusta National Golf Club, where the Masters golf tournament is held annually, plans to invite its first black member by October, if not sooner, said tournament chairman Hord Hardin.

Hardin said the private club, which is open from mid-October through May for members and guests, expects to invite its first black member by the club’s fall opening.

“I’m sure we will invite a black fellow in the next month or so,” Hardin said. “We would like to express ourselves as wanting to have minority members.”

The move comes after the president of Shoal Creek Country Club in Birmingham, Ala., and black leaders called a news conference to announce a resolution to a controversy over the all-white club that is hosting the PGA Championship. The Southern Christian Leadership Conference had planned to post pickets at Shoal Creek south of Birmingham during the Aug. 9-12 PGA Championship, one of the four major tournaments on the professional tour.