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Tiger Woods joins vacationing Obama for golf round

 
President Barack Obama watches the ball after hitting a putt on the ninth green during a 2009 golf match at Mid-Pacific County Club in Kailua, Hawaii. Obama played golf Sunday with Tiger Woods, the White House said Sunday. Woods joined Obama at the Floridian, a yacht and golf club on Florida’s Treasure Coast.
President Barack Obama watches the ball after hitting a putt on the ninth green during a 2009 golf match at Mid-Pacific County Club in Kailua, Hawaii. Obama played golf Sunday with Tiger Woods, the White House said Sunday. Woods joined Obama at the Floridian, a yacht and golf club on Florida’s Treasure Coast.
Published Feb. 18, 2013

PALM CITY — President Barack Obama played golf Sunday with Tiger Woods, the White House said.

Once the sport's dominant player before his career was sidetracked by scandal, Woods joined Obama at the Floridian, a secluded and exclusive yacht and golf club on Florida's Treasure Coast where Obama is spending the long Washington's Birthday weekend. The two had met before, but Sunday was the first time they played together.

The White House, which has promised to be the most open and transparent in history, has prohibited any media coverage of Obama's golf outing.

Sunday's foursome also included Jim Crane, a Houston businessman who owns the Floridian and baseball's Houston Astros, and outgoing U.S. Trade Representative Ron Kirk, a former mayor of Dallas, said White House spokesman Josh Earnest. Crane and Kirk also were part of Obama's foursome on Saturday, the White House said.

Obama, an avid golfer, also received some instruction Saturday and played a few holes with Butch Harmon, Woods' former swing coach.

Initial word that Obama would play a round with the world's No. 2 player didn't come from the White House, but instead came from veteran golf journalist Tim Rosaforte, who announced it on Twitter. Rosaforte's late-morning tweet said: "The president is arriving at the Floridian range. Awaiting is Tiger Woods and club owner Jim Crane. Historic day in golf. Their first round."

White House confirmation of the participation of Woods, a Florida resident, came about two hours later, following multiple appeals from traveling White House reporters.

"Just to see the interaction between the two on the range was pretty neat," Harmon told Golf Digest in a story on its website. "The President said to Tiger: 'The last tournament you played was fun to watch. It's good to see you play well again.' You could tell he meant it. It just wasn't a throw it out compliment."