Donald Trump has made headlines in the golf world for decades, and being president hasn’t changed that.
Earlier this week, Trump stirred controversy with a tweet about Tiger Woods, remarking on Woods’s deflection of a reporter’s questions about the relationship between Woods and Trump. The two have known each other for years, but Woods declined to elaborate on his association with the president, saying only that “you have to respect the office.”
In a column for USA Today, Christine Brennan took Woods to task for his lack of conviction on the subject of Trump’s policies: “Tiger Woods — a man of color, obviously, and a truly historic cultural figure from the very end of the 20th century and the first part of the 21st century — answered a question about race relations by saying he was ‘really hungry.’ Tiger probably doesn’t care. History, however, most likely will.”
Brennan’s point is that nearly everyone has a strong opinion about Trump. Why won’t Tiger share his? But what about the opinions of Woods’s fellow golfers?
In the 2018 edition of GOLF magazine’s anonymous player poll — the poll is in the October issue, which hits newsstands next week — 59 Tour pros were asked to weigh in on the lightning-rod president. Fifty-six percent of them said that they voted for Trump in 2016 — but just 42 percent say they would vote for him in 2020. Players’ comments about Trump ranged from the enthusiastic (“F— yeah, I’m voting for Trump”) to unimpressed (“I’m not a citizen but if I could, I wouldn’t vote for Trump”). Not surprisingly, at least one player appears to be mainly motivated by Trump’s tax policies: “He’s made me some money. That’s all I care about.”
Unfortunately for Woods, questions about Trump are unlikely to go away anytime soon.
POLL RESULTS
Did you vote for Trump?
Yes – 56%
No – 12%
Ineligible – 18%
Didn’t vote – 14%
If he runs again in 2020, will you vote for him?
Yes – 42%
No – 20%
Ineligible – 19%
Undecided – 14%
Won’t vote – 5%
