Kathmandu:november 11/27/2017/ monday/ Birbal Tamang
I got a call Sunday from my good friend
David Trout, the Director of Golf at Trump National Golf Club in
Jupiter, where I’m a member. He said President Trump was going to be
playing with Tiger Woods and asked if I would play in the group. I said,
‘absolutely.’ David was initially going to be the fourth. A couple of
days later they said it looked like Dustin Johnson was going to join us.
The gravity of the situation really hit
me on Thanksgiving night – I was going to be playing a round with the
President of the United States, the current World No. 1 and Tiger Woods.
It really made me kind of nervous and excited to play with that kind of
spotlight. I’d played with Trump a few times previously, before he was
in office. I hadn’t played with Tiger since 2005 and never played with
Dustin, so there’s a lot of firsts going on.
That morning, Trump tweeted that he was
going to be playing with Johnson and Woods. I kind of busted his chops
and said, ‘Hey, where’s the love? I thought you were going to tweet my
name too!’ He laughed, and I told him I was trying to get up to 70,000
followers on Twitter. Trump immediately replied, ‘I have 158 million.’
He’s a fun guy to joke around with. You would think you’d have to
tip-toe around a bit with the President, but he immediately puts you at
ease.
We played a casual best ball match with a
small wager – President Trump and I played Dustin and Tiger. They
played from the back tees at 7,600 yards and we played up to the blue
tees at about 6,500 yards. The President was gracious and entertaining.
He told some stories, things he loves about the job and things he
doesn’t love. I think he was excited to be in that group and we had a
lot of fun.
I’d seen that Tiger had played with
Rickie Fowler and Rickie made some comments about Tiger hitting the ball
well and looking good. I would echo the same thing.
Tiger looked great to me. He was happy
and, more than anything, he’s finally pain-free. The issues he had with
the back the last couple of comebacks seem to be gone. He looked
effortless, he looked free, he had some power.
I was impressed with how far he hit the
ball. Probably on the 10 holes that they were both hitting driver, Tiger
hit it past Dustin half the time and Dustin hit it past Tiger half the
time. He looked great. I think more than anything, he looked at ease. He
was not concerned about swinging hard and going at it with driver. The
ball flight, the sound off the club, all of it was right there.
I also need to mention how impressive
Johnson was, and how much fun it was to watch the current World No. 1 up
close. He definitely lived up to the billing.
Tiger looked like he had all the touch
shots down. On the very first hole he hit a pitch shot over a bunker
that looked great. Hit some tough little pitch shots, tough chip shots
and hit some close. Some to gimme’ distance.
I’m just so happy that he’s happy and can
swing a golf club pain-free. We know there’s so much more to the game
than hitting the ball, but he’s got a chance. He can practice again,
work without being hurt.
Inside he’s probably nervous to do this
again, but he brings so much energy to this game. He’s such a huge
figurehead for us and a real difference maker. I hope for the best for
him. He’s been through so much adversity. I’m excited and I’m sure he’s
excited.
So, I witnessed first-hand what Fowler
saw – A pain-free Tiger that looked like he was able to hit the golf
ball and will be able to be in the mix again. I don’t want to make it
sound like I’m saying he’s going to win next week. It’s obviously
different playing a fun, casual round like this as opposed to a
tournament. But he’s in a great place mentally and physically.
By: Writter
Birbal babu<<
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