Reacting to criticism that its 1990 championship is at a club that excludes blacks, the Professional Golfers' Association said Saturday it will consider membership policies in selecting future title sites.
The United States Golf Association, which runs both the men's and women's U.S. Opens, said it also would re-examine its policies."Exclusionary membership factors of a host site are a factor which must be considered," PGA of America president Patrick J. Rielly said in a statement released by the organization. "We are now determining the specific policy in this area which will be applied to future site selections."
Previously, the PGA considered only the quality of the golf course and the ability of the community to host an event. The new guidelines, which must be approved by the Board of Directors at their next meeting in August, will include membership policies.
The 1990 PGA, considered one of the world's four major championships, will be held Aug. 9-12 at the all-white Shoal Creek Country Club in Birmingham, Ala.
Hall Thompson, president of the Shoal Creek, acknowledged in June that while the club has Jews, Lebanese, Italians and women among its members, it does not include blacks.
He added that the club "would not be pressured" into accepting blacks and added: "That's just not done in Birmingham, Alabama.
"The country club is our home and we can pick and choose who we want."
After those remarks, Rielly said that the PGA had found nothing written into Shoal Creek's by-laws specifically excluding blacks. And Thompson apologized "to those who took offense at those comments."
But protests continued, including one from the NAACP.
"We hope you will take a leadership role in eliminating discriminatory membership policies throughout the country by making open membership a prerequisite for hosting a championship," the APSE said in a letter to all of professional golf's major organizations.
"Membership policies should carry the same weight in the selection process as quality of the course, ability to handle spectators and ability of the community to stage the event," the APSE said.