Bob Costas backtracked on his recent suggestions that CBS golf announcers should use airtime during their coverage of The Masters to talk more about the history of exclusion at Augusta National Golf Club, a private golf club. He made his remarks during an appearance on CNN’s “Piers Morgan Tonight” on Friday.
Last month, Costas made an appearance on “The Dan Patrick Show” after The Masters, and he blistered CBS’s refusal to acknowledge Augusta’s “history of racism and sexism” and said if he were in charge of The Masters coverage he would be “ejected” from Augusta because he would comment on it.
He lost some of that bravado on Friday night, changing his tune a bit on the subject.
“I do not think that CBS should be talking about that now since in 1990, they admitted their first black member and recently they admitted two women, including Condoleezza Rice,” Costas said. “But over the course of time, this was an issue. In fairness, the field at the Masters, which once was lily white, now doesn’t just include Tiger Woods. It’s very diverse. It’s internationally diverse.:
He continued, “So in that sense, if you’re looking at a snapshot right now, there isn’t all that much to talk about. But if you’re talking about in the ’60s, the ’70s, the ’80s, the ’90s, there had to have been a time where this circumstance should have been acknowledged and it never was.