Recently in Golf Category

The Masters golf tournament tees off today with much anticipation: Many are waiting to see if the Augusta National Golf Club will offer a green jacket -- and membership -- to a woman, for the first time ever.

Augusta National opened as a men's golf club in 1933. The club has never granted membership to a woman, though women are allowed to play on its golf course, CBS News reports.

Activists are taking a swing at the issue again, as Augusta faces a precedent-setting dilemma. But Augusta's men-only policy is apparently legal, thanks to its status as a private club.

In October, we noted that transgendered golfer Lana Lawless had filed suit against the LPGA and the Long Drivers of America to remove rules that banned her from competition. The LPGA players themselves addressed the issue, handing Lawless (and other transgendered women) a win. The players voted Dec. 1 to remove the rule requiring LPGA golfers be "female at birth" to compete in tournaments.

Lawless filed suit to prevent the LPGA and the Long Drivers of America from holding events in California as long as they were allegedly in violation of the state's civil rights laws. Lawless had competed in long drive competitions and won the 2008 championship before the rules were changed to conform to those of the LPGA, making her ineligible.

A bit of well-tended sod might get torn up in the coming weeks as the result of a ground-breaking lawsuit filed in San Francisco on October 12. Lana Lawless, a transgendered woman and 2008 Long Drive golf champion, is suing the Ladies Professional Golf Association (LPGA) to be allowed to compete. Currently, the rules of the LPGA require anyone competing in its tournaments to be "born a woman."

Dolan Law Firm, which filed suit on behalf of Lana Lawless, is charging the LPGA and co-defendants the Long Drivers of America, CVS Pharmacy and other corporate sponsors violated California civil rights law (the Unruh Act), unfair business practices laws and illegally interfered with Lawless's economic interests. The complaint seeks unspecified general and punitive damages. Although Lawless was the 2008 champion in a LDA long drive competition, the association changed its rules to conform to those of the LPGA, thus preventing her from playing in future competitions.

The Cliffs at High Carolina can get back to the business of creating Tiger Wood's first US golf course. The developers of Tiger Wood's golf course have agreed to reduce the environmental impact that the course would have on local trout streams after complaints were raised by environmental groups. The Southern Environmental Law Center, Western North Carolina Alliance and Trout Unlimited all opposed the original design and challenged the permits issued to the developers by the North Carolina's Department of Environment and Natural Resources.

In the end, the developers agreed to reduce the planned impact in the golf course dispute by nearly 50%. The Associated Press couldn't help but take a swipe at Woods, who has had a tumultuous year, writing: "Chalk up one victory for Tiger Woods this year." I suppose you could actually call it a backhanded compliment. 

Being the son of a big name former mayor should be good for a lot of perks, one would think. A spot on a college golf team ... not one of them. Or at least that's what a magistrate judge may be indicating in the lawsuit brought by Andrew Giuliani against Duke University. Another perk not flowing from his namesake appears to be respect, either, as U.S. magistrate Judge Wallace Dixon took Caddyshack-quote-pot-shots at the lawsuit which he indicated should be dismissed.

As a quick refresher, the suit was brought last year and claimed Andrew Giuliani was wrongfully kicked off the golf team, or as ESPN described it in more detail, the young Giuliani "had dreams of becoming a professional golfer" but instead got "dismissed without cause" and "without a chance to defend himself." He went on to indicate that coach O.D. Vincent III wanted to cut the team's size in half, so he fabricated some reasons to cut Giuliani. In doing so, the coach broke the contract between Giuliani and Duke University, per the complaint.

However, the magistrate judge colorfully teed off on Andrew Giuliani's claims yesterday, one at a time. ESPN listed some of the nuggets: