How bad has women’s rights activist Martha Burk’s assault on Augusta National gone since her campaign began last summer?

Well, her petition to relocate the allotted protest site scheduled for the third round of the Masters was swiftly and thoroughly denied Tuesday by a federal judge. Meaning that Burk and her supporters are going to be stuck demonstrating their disgust for the all-men’s club about 800 yards from the front gates, on the other side of a six-lane city street while marching in a ditch of standing water collected from the torrential rain that has swept through Georgia the past few days.

An outdoor Pearl Jam concert would have a hard time getting noticed by anyone in the club from that kind of distance, let alone a few hundred rich females, sipping Evian water, allegedly attempting to speak out for their gender on the issue of female membership — an issue that most women simply haven’t even shown much support for.

People driving by probably won’t even be able to figure out if the group is protesting the golf course, the war in Iraq or if they’re just waiting for the Hootie and the Blowfish concert to start (the golf course president Hootie Johnson will undoubtedly be the target of many of the protestors signs).

As far as publicity goes, they won’t get any attention or exposure from the media — at least not the national media. This means anyone outside the city of Augusta will be oblivious to the fact that there’s any demonstration at all.

The USA network, who will broadcast the first two rounds, has reiterated it will only cover golf, while CBS, who is all but married to the Masters, wouldn’t even think of tarnishing the image of the most illustrious golf tournament of the year.

About three weeks ago, when American troops stormed the Iraqi border, Burk asked CBS not to televise the golf tournament, out of respect for the 250,000 women serving in the armed forces.

Aside from making the absurd comparison between her cause and that of the American people, Burk also pushed the wrong button with CBS, who will not only continue to cover the event, but do so without any commercials.

And as if golf fans needed any more incentive to watch arguably the most enjoyable tournament of the year, they can now do so without being interrupted by an array of Carrot Top commercials as the leaders storm down the back nine Sunday afternoon.

Thanks, Martha!

And on top of all of this turmoil that has surrounded the Burk campaign over the last month, she has virtually lost all credibility with the American public.

Too bad, too, because she did have the upper hand for a while. Before her campaign was thrown under the microscope of the mass public and magnified across every talk show from Augusta to Albuquerque, she was playing the right cards.

She was honest, her arguments were appropriate and, most importantly, she didn’t overstep her bounds.

But lately Burk’s perception of the issue has become blurred, and she’s somehow inherited the idea that because she has gotten so much attention for this fight, she is the crusader for her entire gender.

She speaks freely on issues she doesn’t have the first clue about and makes ridiculous demands in the name of women’s rights.

Burk has lost all perspective of her position to women and society, and has become so naive that, even with American troops at war, she thinks any of us care whether or not a handful of elite, wealthy women are admitted to a private golf course.

Should women be able to play at Augusta National? Maybe. The principle of women not being admitted doesn’t seem fair, but private clubs do own the right to run their establishment however they choose, and this is how their course has always been run.

But the simple matter of women not being admitted to the club isn’t even the issue anymore. Not with Burk calling the shots. She’d have everyone believe that national security is somehow at stake if a female golfer isn’t teeing off at Augusta in the next few weeks.

She’s pulled the courts into the picture, leaned on minority athletes like Tiger Woods to lend his support and even attracted the likes of Rev. Jesse Jackson into the mix, a man who never even expressed interest in the cause until it was splashed over the front page of most major newspapers.

And how does Burk intend on approaching the issue? By simply trampling on the Masters. By trying to ruin one of the more enjoyable weekends for a golf fan and make a mockery of a tournament that may yield the first three-peat champion (Tiger Woods) in its memorable history.

I truly hope that Burks doesn’t try to make a martyr of herself this weekend by doing something even more ridiculous than she’s done over the last ten months, but I wouldn’t at all be surprised.

I support the idea of a protest and the right to speak one’s mind — that’s what this country’s all about.

But there’s a time, place and boundary for everything. And some people just can’t understand this.