Augusta National’s First Women Members Both Have Ties to the Academic World

The Augusta National Golf Club in Georgia, home of the prestigious Masters Tournament, was founded in 1932. Until today, the private golf club had never had a woman as a member.

It was announced that Darla Moore and Condoleezza Rice had been offered membership in the club and the two women both accepted the offer. When the club opens for a new season in October, Moore and Rice will become the first women members of Augusta National.

Condoleezza Rice, the former national security adviser and secretary of state in the administration of George W. Bush, is now a professor of political economy at the Stanford University Graduate School of Business. She is the former provost at Stanford.

A native of Birmingham, Alabama, Rice earned a bachelor’s degree and a Ph.D. in political science from the University of Denver. She also holds a master’s degree from the University of Notre Dame.

Darla Moore is vice president of Rainwater, a private investment company. She began her career as an executive for Chemical Bank in New York City. Moore was the first woman profiled on the cover of Fortune magazine.

Moore is a graduate of the University of South Carolina. She earned an MBA at George Washington University. In 1998, Moore donated $25 million to the University of South Carolina, which in turn renamed the business school in her honor. She later donated $10 million to Clemson University, which renamed its School of Education in honor of her father, Eugene Moore. Last year, Moore donated $5 million to the University of South Carolina  to establish an aerospace research center.