A woman has never worn a member's green jacket since Augusta National opened in 1933. And now, just seven days before the Masters, no less, the membership debate again is in full bloom.

"I think they're both in a bind," Martha Burk told The Associated Press Thursday evening.

A decade ago, Burk applied pressure on just about everyone connected with Augusta National and with the Masters, the major championship that garners the highest TV ratings. She demanded that four companies drop their television sponsorship because of discrimination. She lobbied PGA Tour commissioner Tim Finchem to not recognize the Masters as part of the tour schedule.

But it didn't work.

Hootie Johnson, chairman of the club at the time, said Augusta might one day have a female member, but it would be on the club's timetable, and "not at the point of a bayonet." The protest fizzled in a parking lot down the street during the third round of the 2003 tournament.

"We did raise the issue," Burk said on CNN. "If we had not done that, this would not be on the table now."

Now it's back, and this time it has a face -- Rometty, a 31-year veteran of IBM who has been ranked among the "50 Most Powerful Women in Business" by Fortune magazine the past seven years. Rometty was No. 7 last year.

What's the next step?

Augusta National has declined to comment, keeping with its policy of not discussing membership issues. IBM has not commented publicly, and did not return a phone call from the AP Thursday night.

"IBM is in a bigger bind than the club," Burk said. "The club trashed their image years ago. IBM is a corporation. They ought to care about the brand, and they ought to care about what people think. And if they're not careful, they might undermine their new CEO."

Augusta has a new chairman in Billy Payne, who ran the 1996 Olympics in Atlanta. When he replaced Johnson as chairman of the club and of the Masters tournament in 2006, he said there was "no specific timetable" for admitting women.

The question was raised at the 2007 and 2010 Masters. Both times, Payne said membership issues were private.