It's inauguration day.
A day of transition and change. A day of oaths and briefings and who's-wearing-whose-designs. A day where you can pause for a few minutes and find yourself caught up in all those details the networks throw at you while you watch the Secret Service standing outside Blair House waiting for the president-elect and his family to emerge.
You know, the four-hour turnaround at the White House -- they just put snacks in the fridge -- or the first televised inauguration, or other presidential minutiae. Or which outgoing president didn't want to talk to which incoming president on transition day.
But we're not here to talk couture, offer perspective on a historic moment in time -- not just U.S. history -- or analyze President Barack Obama's first address to the nation.
Instead, with the pictures of Obama swinging away on his Hawaiian holiday vacation still fresh in our minds and the Bob Hope Chrysler Classic kicking off on the West Coast, it's time to delve into a lighter side of what has been the first sport in the White House so many times in the last century.
It would be too easy to simply list the gaffes (Gerald Ford's errant drives that found spectators come to mind) or talk about the penchant for mulligans (a tight race between Bill Clinton and Lyndon Johnson). Too easy, too, are the unique routines (George H.W. Bush flies through a round; Dwight Eisenhower stepped out to his private putting green). Or some of their playing partners (Clinton and Greg Norman; Davis Love III, Ben Crenshaw and Jim Nantz with the Bushes).
Instead, we thought it might be fun to pick out a few Presidents and identify their PGA TOUR equivalents.
| Ulysses S. Grant |
| 1869-1877 |
| He played in the UK -- once. He took a lot of swings and never came back. So ... we like Ben Hogan. One of golf's all-time greats ventured across the pond just once, won the British Open and never went back. |
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| William Howard Taft |
| 1909-1913 |
| Girth alone has us thinking John Daly, but passion, too. Taft wasn't very good at the game, but he loved it -- sometimes at the expense of his job. Daly can't stay away from it either, although he's much better at his chosen profession than Taft. |
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| Woodrow Wilson |
| 1913-1921 |
| He loved the game, but he never broke 100. No stars here to liken him to -- just the majority of people who play the game. |
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| Dwight D. Eisenhower |
| 1953-1961 |
| Ike's the second-best golfer in the White House and a member of Augusta National, where he has a cabin named after him. A war hero who, among other things, brought wealth and power back to the U.S. and popularized the game post WWII. There's no better mirror image than Arnold Palmer, who took the game from black-and-white to Technicolor. Palmer's wink-and-hitch is as classic as Ike and Bobby Jones at Augusta. No match in personalities, though -- Arnie's charisma pulled people in. Ike? He was aloof. He spent time by himself on the putting green he built at the White House. |
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| John F. Kennedy |
| 1961-1963 |
| Despite all those touch football moments from the Kennedy lawn and the sailing exploits from the family compound in Hyannisport, JFK's passion was golf. He was good enough to shoot around 80 just about anytime he picked up a club, but he liked to keep that talent hidden. We're thinking well-rounded here, but we're also talking cranky back. So, we pick a pair of No. 41's buddies -- Davis Love III and Fred Couples. |
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| Lyndon Baines Johnson |
| 1963-1969 |
| A good old boy from Texas who played golf and worked the system. Need votes to pass the 1964 Civil Rights Act? Take some senators out for a quick 18. The man knew how to work the system. For that, we offer Paul Azinger, who worked the Ryder Cup system and brought the Cup back to American soil. Like LBJ, Zinger says what he thinks and in his own style. |
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| Richard Nixon |
| 1969-1974 |
| Nothing political here. We're going with Colin Montgomerie. Both have those lined foreheads and a perennial grumpy look. |
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| Gerald Ford |
| 1974-1977 |
| A more-than decent player, who had a way of, well, missing fairways. Spectators even put on hard hats to watch him play. The former Michigan football star was an A-list celebrity, but he had those clumsy moments. He wasn't alone. Bush 41 hit his own vice president, Dan Quayle, one time. So many wild shots, we're thinking Mickelson here, but then again, there's Sandy Lyle. The man won at Augusta but has had trouble finding the fairways since. Patrons take cover. |
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| Ronald Reagan |
| 1981-1989 |
| Not the best player, although he did break 100. His mirror? We like LPGA Commissioner Carolyn Bivens. Why? Well, Reagan had his voodoo economics and Bivens is trying to find a formula to right the LPGA ship. |
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| George H.W. Bush |
| 1989-1993 |
| Better known as No. 41. A golf blue-blood, who came dangerously close to a single-digit handicap at one point. He loves the game and plays it fast -- as in racing to shots in his cart. His twin? Lanny Wadkins on the course. No one plays faster. But we also offer another golf celeb -- Bush friend Jim Nantz. After all, No. 41 is now a regular in every 18th tower on TOUR. |
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| Bill Clinton |
| 1993-2001 |
| Another no-brainer. Charismatic. Controversial. Who better than Greg Norman? OK, so Norman doesn't take mulligans at the rate Clinton takes "Billigans." Again, Norman wins hands down on the course, but they're buddies off of it. And there was that late-night visit at Norman's house when Clinton took a spill. |
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| David Palmer |
| 2001-2005 |
| OK. So he wasn't a real U.S. president, but Dennis Haysbert played him on the TV show 24. Haysbert loves the game and plays the celeb circuit. Palmer? He was too busy with Jack Bauer, but we're thinking someone like Vijay Singh or Steve Elkington, who carry themselves with that very tall, upright, presidential look. |
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| George W. Bush |
| 2001-2009 |
| Also known as No. 43. He will have plenty of time to work on his game, but as for a mirror image? Way too soon to tell. But he's about to find out what his father did two presidencies ago: He's no longer going to win every time he plays. |
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| Barack Obama |
| 2009-???? |
| Who better to close with? This is a no-brainer. Tiger Woods. It's all about expectations. We think back to all those analogies Earl Woods threw at us and what's happened since. Obama's hello world moment was years ago, but the real changes -- no we're not downplaying the first multi-racial President -- start now. Their games are worlds apart, but standing together last weekend, you're reminded of how similar (yes Tiger's in better shape even with a rebuilt knee) they are in stature -- long and lanky. And charismatic, too. Both have that laidback ease about them and wear clothes so well it's scary, but they're the most powerful people in their chosen professions. Woods changed the face of golf with talent; Obama walks in with talent and confidence, but his changes come with "ifs" on every level. Tiger redefined golf; Obama hopes to redefine America. On the course? Rumor has it Obama, a lefty (no, we never thought of that Phil Mickelson parallel), could be a single-digit handicap after he's out of office, but ... all we can say is if they ever do get together for a round, Obama doesn't have a prayer. Nothing disrespectful about it. Woods wants to take everyone down. |
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Tiger Woods
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