Guards Block Female Reporter From Interview

By BILL PENNINGTON

AUGUSTA, Ga. — A female reporter for The Record of New Jersey was prevented from entering the locker room at Augusta National Golf Club after the final round of the Masters on Sunday.

The reporter, the Record sports columnist Tara Sullivan, was attempting to interview the third-round leader Rory McIlroy in the locker room along with a group of male reporters but was stopped by security guards who told her she could not enter because she was a woman.

The club, which has no female members, apologized to Sullivan and called it a misunderstanding, adding that it was not club policy to deny locker room access to female reporters. Several female reporters at the tournament had access throughout the week.

Sullivan said she was not stopped by club members but by two security guards, one male and one female, who were contracted by the club to work during the tournament. Sullivan was later given a transcript of McIlroy’s comments by her male colleagues.

Late Sunday night, Sullivan wrote on Twitter: “Bad enough no women members at Augusta. But not allowing me to join writers in locker room interview is just wrong.”