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Women no longer out of bounds at Masters

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For 80 years, a defiant Augusta National Golf Club had nothing to say about its male-only membership policy.

But on the eve of the 2013 Masters, the club's chairman had just one word to describe the decision in August to finally open its doors to women.

"Awesome," Billy Payne said in a disarming southern drawl.

The breathtaking view is the same as it has been for decades, the home of the Masters golf tournament - a bastion of tradition unmoved by outside forces and events.

But this April, change is in the air, mixed with the fragrant smell of blooming azaleas, with former US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice and financier Darla Moore becoming the first women to don the famous green jackets.

Despite ending a membership controversy that had reached the White House and become increasingly difficult to simply dismiss as a club matter, Augusta has offered little insight into the timing of its decision and why it took so long.

"It went about the same process and the same amount of time as any other member," Payne told reporters as golfers went through final preparations for Thursday's opening round.

As Masters week began, Rice was attracting as much attention as the world's top golfers. Certainly there are good reasons for the gawkers, since there have been fewer women to land an Augusta green jacket than there are men who have landed on the moon.