Thursday marks the start of one of golf’s most important tournaments, the Masters.

Many golfers and golf enthusiasts consider this event to be the most prestigious tournament in all of golf. After all, the winner gets the classic green jacket, which is handed to them from the previous year’s victor. Every blade of grass is perfect, and the golf course at Augusta National in Georgia, which hosts the event each year, is one of the most pristine in the world.

The slogan for the tournament, a four-day run of magical moments earned by the golfers, is “The Masters, a tradition unlike any other.”

But that tradition, unfortunately, doesn’t extend to women.

There was a time when mens clubs such as Augusta National were acceptable, when people divided the sexes and did not see them as being equal. This, however, is the 21st century, and no golf club should be allowed to ban women from joining.

We understand that some people believe it is Augusta National’s right to allow whomever they want into their club. After all, they are a private club. We agree with this to a point, but Augusta also makes millions of dollars each year from hosting one of the Pro Golf Association’s most prestigious events. The club gains national exposure for the weeks leading up to the Masters and it profits greatly.

There is also no female equivalent to Augusta National, which is the top of the line for golf clubs. Women do not have a club of which they can be a part that also hosts one of the most prestigious golf tournaments in the world.

Augusta National is facing a unique dilemma with its policy against allowing female members this year.

One of its biggest corporate partners, IBM, has paid a steep price each year for a precious few minutes of advertising during the tournament. In exchange, IBM’s CEO gets a membership to the very exclusive club.

It’s been a good deal for both IBM and Augusta National, but that might all change this year: IBM recently named its new CEO, a woman named Virginia Rometty.

This could become uncomfortable for the club ”“ and it should be. It is not OK to extend the membership offer to the IBM CEO when that person was a man, only to revoke it because the new chief is a woman. That sets a bad example for future generations and tells them it is acceptable to exclude people based on their sex. As a culture, we should strive not to discriminate against others.

IBM might pull its advertising money from future tournaments, but the Augusta golf course, in the past, has foregone all advertising to make its point: A few years ago, activist Martha Burk demanded a boycott of the Masters Tournament and Augusta National because the club didn’t have a female member. The boycott fizzled, Burk and her supporters were forced to protest in a parking lot nearly one mile from the club, and Augusta National protected its sponsors by not having any advertising that year.

It’s sad that private organizations can refuse membership to a person based on sex. If the club were trying to exclude blacks, for example, it would face an onslaught from activists, such as the Rev. Jesse Jackson and Al Sharpton. Sponsors would have to consider whether or not to pull their endorsements. There would be larger protests prior to and during the tournament if a black person were not allowed to join, and we would fully support these boycotts. Why isn’t it the same for women’s rights?

Augusta National didn’t admit its first black member to the club until the late 1990s, a few years after Tiger Woods won his first Masters there.

It took some time for that rule to change, but thankfully, it did. We hope the same will hold true in the future, and the club will allow any person who can afford to be a member to become a part of one of the most prestigious social organizations in the world.

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Today’s editorial was written by Sports Editor Al Edwards on behalf of the Journal Tribune Editorial Board. Questions? Comments? Contact Managing Editor Kristen Schulze Muszynski by calling 282-1535, Ext. 322, or via email at kristenm@journaltribune.com.