Trump tees off with Tiger Woods

U.S. President-elect Donald Trump who will take office next January is a great golfer. During his Wharton School years at Pennsylvania University when he first started playing golf, Trump’s official handicap was 2.8. This means that he scores around mid-70s in average. Famous as a “golf maniac,” he could not get his hands on the golf clubs since last June when he vied for the presidential elections.

Two days before Christmas, Trump rounded in nearly 18 months on Friday (local time). His partner was Tiger Woods.

According to foreign media including Golf Digest and Golf Channel, Trump finished 18 holes with Woods at his Trump International Golf Club located in West Palm Beach, Florida. Nobody is uncertain of how high they scored or what topics they shared, but it was known that Woods first proposed the Friday round.

On the pictures posted by foreign media outlets, Trump is wearing a t-shirt with the logo of his golf club. Woods on the other hand was still wearing his “Santa beards,” which he dyed for the upcoming holidays.

When it comes to golfing, they are indeed “soul mates.” In 2013, Woods won the Cadillac Championship at World Golf Championship (WGC) held at Trump Doral Golf Club – another golf club owned by the president-elect – where Trump himself rewarded the trophy to Woods. Trump also named a villa after Woods inside his resort. The president-elect even went further and let Woods design the Trump World Golf Club under construction in Dubai. When Woods announced his return through the Hero World Challenge early this month after suffering from a long waist injury, Trump also tweeted “Tiger, so glad you’re back.”

Trump showed his negative stance on President Barack Obama who played golf every Tuesday. Last year, Trump also criticized President Obama, saying that he seems to tee off more frequently than Woods. According to an unofficial statistics provided by CBS, President Obama rounded 320 times during his eight-year term. His round with Woods was only once in 2013.

However, the president-elect already started to play with Woods before taking office. It seems that Trump will play more often with the golf emperor.

Heon-Jae Lee uni@donga.com