Women's group says it will target Augusta members

WASHINGTON -- The leader of efforts to force the Augusta National Golf Club to admit women said Tuesday she will take her protest next to companies whose top executives belong to the club.

Martha Burk, head of the National Council of Women's Organizations, said her group plans to request meetings with the top officers of several corporations -- among them IBM, General Electric, AT&T, Ford and Microsoft -- who hold memberships at the golf club, home of the Masters tournament.

She said her group also is considering appealing to pension fund administrators and other investors to sell stock in companies whose executives belong to the golf club.

"These companies claim to value women's labor and to be in favor of diversity and against discrimination," Burk said. "Yet their leaders belong to a club that excludes women."

Burk said she was pleased with Saturday's demonstration, even though it drew far fewer people than originally planned.