Clap for Augusta, but not too loudly

Michelle Beadle is a sports reporter and host on NBC Universal. She has worked for ESPN and ABC and the YES Network.

Talented. Knowledgeable. Informed.

She also tweeted this Monday: Augusta let two women in! Garsh, we really made it! Now wouldn't it be great if they said "thanks, but no thanks." #takeurinviteandshoveit

I only hope a majority of women don't share a similar view.

It's true. This isn't progress in the way of inventing the automobile. More like discovering a more efficient fuel pump for it. This shouldn't earn those at Augusta National a parade. More like a headline.

This doesn't deserve a standing ovation. More like, well, a golf clap.

But by welcoming two women to its club of archaic and sexist and, for years, racist halls, those who run the beautiful track that annually hosts the world's best golf tournament took a notable step forward in at least denting the wall of exclusion that has defined it. This is a significant advancement for women.

Why in the world would anyone - much less a woman - desire those invited to decline?

Condoleezza Rice and Darla Moore thankfully didn't, immediately accepting membership and assuring those green jackets will symbolize that, while ridiculously long overdue for a club that dates 80 years, those at Augusta have seen the light.

And that's all this really is. A symbol of what is just.

It's not Susan B. Anthony pushing for the right to vote or Dolores Huerta fighting for the rights of farm workers or Rosa Parks refusing to give up her seat on the bus. It's doesn't reach those levels of historic change, nor will it impact near the number of people such acts have over time.

At its most basic state, this is a private club opening its doors to two more wealthy, successful, powerful people who just happen to be women. Rice is the former secretary of state and Moore a Wall Street wunderkind from South Carolina and vice president of her husband's investment company, which has a net worth of
$2.3 billion.

She has pledged more than $78 million to her alma mater (University of South Carolina) since 1998.

Yes. That kind of rich.

Translation: The membership at Augusta never thought of inviting the kindergarten teacher from down the street and probably never will.

It's their club. Their rules. Their right to be as primitive and mistaken in their beliefs as they desire, and haven't they hit a home run when it comes to those traits?

But here's the difference between Augusta and other private clubs that don't allow women members: a certain week each spring.

There is nothing like the Masters. Nothing like the grounds at Augusta. Nothing like Amen Corner and Rae's Creek and Hogan Bridge. Nothing like those magical and memorable moments the second Sunday in April has produced. Nothing like Gene Sarazen in 1935 or Jack Nicklaus in 1986 or Fred Couples going for the pin on 12 in 1992. Nothing like the television coverage with limited commercials. Nothing like a major championship that can be won by Tiger Woods one year and someone named Charl Schwartzel another.

It's just too public a thing, even if for just four days a year, to continue not having women members.

Billy Payne knew this, which is why the chairman of Augusta called Monday's announcement a "joyous occasion." He knew what former Chairman Hootie Johnson refused to accept when activist Martha Burk led protests during the 2003 Masters, which is this:

While a majority of those women who watch and marvel at the tournament each year will never step foot on the hallowed grounds, never mind play them, it remained beyond disingenuous to continue selling the Masters in such a public vein with such a pompous air of exclusivity when it came to membership.

Women work at Augusta. They play Augusta. They shop at Augusta.

Now, two are members of it.

It is nothing more than a start. A symbol. A step forward.

But it's an important one. To how many, I'm not sure.

I am about this: Anthony once said about women making progress, "Those who are really in earnest are willing to be anything or nothing in the world's estimation, and publicly and privately, in season and out, avow their sympathies with despised ideas and their advocates, and bear the consequences." Which means the last thing Rice and Moore should have done is decline the invitations.

Thankfully, they didn't.

Las Vegas Review-Journal sports columnist Ed Graney can be reached at egraney@reviewjournal.com or 702-383-4618. He can be heard from 11 a.m. to 2 p.m. Monday through Friday on "Gridlock," ESPN 1100 AM and 98.9 FM. Follow him on Twitter: @edgraney.