by Jeff Skinner
Think back a few years to when Tiger Woods was still reeling from the shocking revelation of his extra-marital affairs. Woods had lost sponsorships, his wife, his golf game, his place on the pedestal and was a pariah to many. Fast forward to today: his golf game is back, he has new sponsors, according to TMZ he is seeing Lindsey Vonn and while he isn’t back to number one in the world, second is pretty close.
And yesterday Woods teed it up with The Golfer in Chief, President Obama. As they say, “Who’d a thunk it?” A few years ago this could have never happened. Woods was damaged goods and any public relations man wouldn’t have let President Obama anywhere near him. But time heals wounds and all things must pass. The President’s advisors must think that Woods is safe now so after President Obama spent some time with Butch Harmon on Saturday he put his game to the test with the greatest golfer of this generation.
Now, there will be some that attack the President for just playing golf in the first place, no less teeing it up with Tiger Woods. But that’s the nature of politics: try and take down your opponent at any cost. And there will be some that play the race card here but those are the same people with their KKK hood hidden in their closet. But what we have here is two golfers, two very high profile golfers but golfers none the less.
President Obama’s love for the game is well known (and attacked often) but isn’t a man entitled to some time off with his buddies even if he is the most powerful man in the world? This is President Obama’s “Buddies Weekend” and no one should have a problem with that.
Reports were that Obama and Woods hit it off and Obama wasn’t spared Tiger’s famous needle. There was plenty of ribbing and the President thoroughly enjoyed the round. Butch Harmon tweaked the President’s swing on Saturday and reports were that the president was very pleased with the results. And he absolutely loves the game. Harmon was impressed.” I like the fact he loves golf. Obviously he doesn’t get to play very much. He said it was a real treat for him to come here with his best friends and have a chance to play. But he counts every shot. He doesn’t like gimmes. He putts everything out. He counts all his penalty shots. He thinks about all his shots before he hits them. Some people might say to the President of the United States, ‘Oh, just move it.’ But that’s not him. He loves the game and loves the game the way it’s supposed to be played.”
President Clinton loved to play the game also but was a notorious “cheater” as he played multiple mulligans and took any putt close to ten feet. Not so with Obama. Butch says he plays the game as it should be played. And as we all know, you can tell a lot about a man from the way he plays golf.
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