MISSISSIPPI COUNTRY CLUB REFUSES WOMAN ENTRY INTO GOLF TOURNAMENT (06/08/24)

Per Chelle May Gross on Facebook (slightly edited to fit) This year, my husband’s usual tournament partner could not play because he is participating in his nieces wedding, so Stephen needed to find a temporary partner. Insert Lauren, our daughter would be home for the first summer in quite some time, and she plays a rare golf round every now and then in her free time. She was a division one college basketball player, so free time was almost non existent. Hence her first summer home, but Stephen thought “what the heck, she loves competition, so why not?” Lauren agreed. They filled out the paperwork, hand delivered it in April, and proceeded to prepare, while looking forward to the weekend and some fun competition. He books hotel reservations, dinner reservations, and the rest of us that don’t play make our usual plans of going to McCarty’s and The Gallery for lunch. Yesterday, morning we receive the phone call letting us know the Lauren would not be allowed to play. We ask why? She is a girl is the only reason given. We then proceed to ask if we missed something. Is it stated anywhere that it is a Men’s Tournament? Does it say men’s only? The golf pro admits that it does not state anywhere that it is a men’s only tournament, but a girl has never played in the tournament before. My husband explains that if it had stated it were a men’s tournament, he would never have asked her to play. He explained that we are fine with men or women only tournaments, and was unaware that women were not allowed to play. Not one of the people that play with them on a regular basis believed that she would not be welcome. Stephen explained how wrong he felt like the club was for the decision, but also for calling less than 24 hours before they were to leave town to travel to Cleveland. He explained that Lauren expected no special treatment and that she would play from the men’s tees like everyone else. She just wanted to play. The Golf Pro asked for some time to talk it over with some others and he would call back. He called back, after talking to the past pro, their decision stood. She would not be allowed to play. They did not want to open that “can of worms”. Lauren, then called to talk to him, she simply wanted a reasonable answer as to why. His response to her was “We have never had this problem before.” She then replied with “So, the fact that I am a girl is a problem?” Then she asked him “If Dad had lied and said that she was a boy, and she dressed like a boy, would she have been able to play”, and he replied, “Yes.” Insert my son, who also plays in the tournament. He sends an email to the club stating his offense and that he planned to let anyone that would listen know what happened. Stephen then gets a call from a friend he went to school with who (unknown to us) happens to hold a position on the board at the club. Hopefully that keeps him anonymous. He apologizes and asks Stephen, if they allow Lauren to play, would she still be willing to do so? Stephen talked to Lauren. She agreed. She just wants the right thing to be done. He lets us know he would get back with us very soon. 5 1/2 hours later at 9:30pm Stephen reaches out to his friend to see what he needs to do about hotel reservations. He responded with we are still meeting, I’ll let you know soon. At 10:30pm Stephen reached out again before going to bed, he explained that if they were going to play in the tournament, he would be leaving by 9am the next morning. He was told, some members of the board had to go home, but they were still communicating via text. His friend would let him know something by 5am. 5am - nothing, 6am - nothing, 7am - nothing, at 8am Stephen reached out again. He was told that they were still discussing the “issue”. But they would get back with him very soon. At 10:15am over an hour after Stephen and Lauren were supposed to leave town, Stephen reached out one last time to ask for a final decision. He explained he believed there was only one right answer and he could not believe that it had taken this long, but he had to know something or they would miss their tee time. After over 24 hours of thought, discussion, communication between the Board, current Golf Pro, past Golf Pro, and members of the club. The Cleveland Country Club decided to stand with their decision of not allowing a girl to play in the tournament that states nowhere it is a men’s only tournament simply because a girl has never played before. I'm simply shocked that clear heads could come together and still come out with the same conclusion.