Tag: Presidential Medal of Freedom

Opinion: Annika Sorenstam and much of golf world refuse to break from Donald Trump

Annika Sorenstam, speaking to the news media for the first time since accepting the Medal of Freedom, said she’s “not one to second guess.”

Annika Sorenstam, the Hall of Fame golfer who flew to Washington, D.C., to stand next to outgoing President Donald Trump less than 24 hours after he incited the deadly insurrection at the U.S. Capitol, was given a chance Tuesday to repudiate Trump, to apologize for her actions and to admit she made a mistake.

She did none of that. Failing miserably to comprehend the gravity of her association with one of the darkest days in American history, she instead fell back on embarrassing, insipid clichés.

“I’m not one to look back,” she told Golfweek.

“I’m not one to second guess,” she told Golf Channel.

Sorenstam is not one to say much of anything because she, like so many in the staid, elitist game of golf, has sold her soul for Donald Trump.

For every step golf takes to try to enter the 20th century before too much more of the 21st goes by, it takes a step backward and reminds us exactly what it is:

A Trump-loving, rich white man’s game, mostly; a sport almost completely out of touch with what’s happening in this diverse land outside the walls of its exclusive country clubs and the windows of its private jets.

At noon ET Wednesday, as Trump departs in disgrace, his presidency in shambles, the United States will be led by President Joe Biden and Vice President Kamala Harris. But there will be many in golf who will maintain an allegiance to Trump no matter what, including corporate leaders who run the game, and the men’s and women’s Tour players who have strongly and openly supported him.

It doesn’t have to be this way. Golf could change if it really wanted to. We’ve seen examples already. Little more than a week ago, the PGA of America moved at lightning speed (for golf) to strip Trump and his beloved Bedminster of the 2022 PGA Championship. A few days after that, Ralph Lauren dumped PGA Tour star Justin Thomas after he was caught using a homophobic slur at a tournament.

Was the real world finally closing in on golf? Was the game finally getting its head out of the sand trap?

Then came Tuesday, and Sorenstam’s pitiful performance with the golf media when asked about showing up to receive the Presidential Medal of Freedom from Trump on Jan. 7 with fellow golfer Gary Player. It should be noted that New England Patriots coach Bill Belichick, hardly one to bow to political pressure of any kind, canceled on Trump a few days later rather than be seen with him accepting the same award.

So here was Sorenstam’s chance to right a wrong, to correct the record, to make her break from Trump. She’s a trailblazing women’s sports icon, a description rarely attached to a Trump fan. This was her moment.

She blew it. Not once did she mention Trump by name. After retweeting Jack Nicklaus’ long endorsement of Trump before the election, does she still support him? We have no idea. Her husband, Mike McGee, a very public Trump supporter, has deleted his Twitter account. She has not said why. She has not posted any photos of the Medal of Freedom ceremony. Why not?

This matters because Sorenstam is much more than a 50-year-old retired LPGA legend. She is the new president of the International Golf Federation. She has made herself the preeminent golf role model for girls, with a brand known around the world. As she stood for her Golf Channel interview, she was a human salesperson, with logos for Lexus, Mastercard, Cutter & Buck and Callaway visible on her shirt and hat.

What have those corporations said about the appearance with Trump? Not a peep.

Silence has gripped all kinds of people who should have an opinion on a golf superstar’s visit with the man who incited the deadly assault on our democracy. LPGA Commissioner Mike Whan never replied to a Jan. 7 text message seeking comment on the issue, while U.S. Golf Association president J. Stuart Francis replied to an email saying, “On the topic you asked about, I am not in a position to comment on it.”

Isn’t the game of golf bigger and better than Donald Trump? Isn’t our nation more important than one powerful golf course owner? Isn’t golf supposed to be about honor and ethics and decency? What in the world are these people so afraid of?

Annika Sorenstam vows to ‘move forward’ after Presidential Medal of Freedom flap

Golfweek’s JuliaKate E. Culpepper discusses Annika Sorenstam receiving the Presidential Medal of Freedom after the storming of the United States Capitol.

Golfweek’s JuliaKate E. Culpepper discusses Annika Sorenstam receiving the Presidential Medal of Freedom after the storming of the United States Capitol.

Annika Sorenstam vows to ‘move forward’ after Presidential Medal of Freedom flap

Annika Sorenstam spoke to Golfweek at the LPGA’s Diamond Resorts TOC about accepting the Presidential Medal of Freedom from Donald Trump.

LAKE BUENA VISTA, Florida – Annika Sorenstam and husband Mike McGee went back to their car several times in search of a lost mask at Tranquilo Golf Course. Much has changed since the last time a retired Sorenstam teed it up in an LPGA event. For starters, she’s in the celebrity division of this week’s Diamond Resorts Tournament of Champions, competing against an almost entirely male field of entertainment and sports celebrities.

And, for the moment at least, the LPGA Hall of Famer is embroiled in controversy after accepting the Presidential Medal of Freedom from President Donald Trump alongside fellow legend Gary Player one day after the violent U.S. Capitol attacks Jan. 6 in which five people died. As Sorenstam waited out an early-morning frost delay Tuesday, she spoke with Golfweek about her decision to accept the medal. The original ceremony was scheduled for March 23, 2020, but was postponed due to the pandemic.

“Ever since I heard I was going to receive this award back in 2019, I’ve always viewed this in the context of the people through history who have received it,” said Sorenstam, “and as you know it started in 1963. It’s individuals from all kinds of walks, whether it’s science, art, entertainment and sports, just to make the world a better place. Listen, I share the sadness and the fear with everyone, what happened at the Capitol. But I’m not one to look back. I focus on young girls, as you know. Just came back from St. Augustine yesterday, our 13th Annika Invitational. That’s what I’m going to continue to do is open doors, create opportunities for young girls around the world.”

Sorenstam said that she arrived in Washington on the evening of Jan. 6 with her family. When asked if she regretted going ahead with the ceremony the next day at the White House, Sorenstam reiterated that she’s not one to second-guess.

“I’ve always been somebody to move forward,” she said. “I’m going to spend energy and continue to give back to the game of golf.”

Sorenstam, 50, won 72 times on the LPGA including 10 major championships and remains the only woman in history to shoot 59. The mother of two thrust herself into the business world after her retirement from the tour in 2008, building her ANNIKA brand and boosting the game worldwide. In 2019, more than 600 girls from 60-plus countries competed in seven events across five continents through the Annika Foundation. There are 146 players competing on the Symetra Tour who have played in Sorenstam’s events and more than 60 players that have status on the LPGA.

Last December, the International Golf Federation Board elected Sorenstam as IGF President, a significant role given that the Olympics Games are scheduled this summer. In September, the eight-time Solheim Cup player and 2017 captain will lead Team Europe at the Junior Solheim Cup in Toledo, Ohio.

Many feel her sterling reputation a global ambassador for golf has now been significantly tarnished.

“I’ve heard from a lot of people, and you can imagine the range of emotions and comments,” Sorenstam said. “I hear clearly those who see it differently. … Now I’ve got my golf hat on. I am going to continue to be the mother I am, continue to be the philanthorpist I am, continue to be the golfer that I am. This week I’m going to pick up the clubs and we’re going to do that.”

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Massachusetts Rep. says Belichick accepting honor from president would be ‘disgraceful’

A representative and Boston Globe columnist want Bill Belichick to say thanks but no thanks to President Donald Trump

The New England Patriots find themselves in the midst of a controversy. Nothing new about that during the playoffs, except they aren’t in the NFL postseason.

This one stems from news Head Coach Bill Belichick has been tapped to receive the Presidential Medal of Honor later this week from President Donald Trump. Thus far no word from the coach on his decision.

Given the storm around the president, Massachusetts Rep. Jim McGovern says accepting it would be “disgraceful.”

“I would refuse it, if I were Bill Belichick,” McGovern said during an interview with CNN on Monday morning. “This president has made a mockery of the Presidential Medal of Freedom. Look at who he has given it to in the last weeks, people like Devin Nunes and Jim Jordan. I mean, please, Bill Belichick should do the right thing and say ‘no thanks.’

“This president is not fit to be in office, so anything that he would bestow on anybody can be as meaningless and to accept it is disgraceful.”

The Boston Globe posted a column by Tara Sullivan echoing the sentiment.

Wrote Sullivan:

Don’t do it.

Don’t go to Washington, D.C., this week and accept the Presidential Medal of Freedom. Say “thank you” to the White House and to President Donald Trump for the honor, and then politely decline. …

This single act of personal pride could cost him his locker room.

As risky as it would be under any circumstance for Belichick to stand for a photo op with the same president who has drawn so many verbal battle lines with the NFL we’ve lost count and whose most infamous line called those who dared kneel during the national anthem “sons of bitches” who should be “fired,” he probably could get away with it.

But to do so in the wake of last week’s attack on the Capitol would be a complete slap in the face to his team, to his players, to his league, to his franchise, to everyone horrified by the insurrection and the role Trump played in inciting it.

Sullivan implored Belichick in closing the column:

The Patriots are already the most hated franchise in the world. If this happens, even the locals will abandon them too.

Don’t do it.

What do you think? Accept or politely decline given the circumstances?

Gary Player’s son thinks he should decline Presidential Medal of Freedom from Donald Trump

Gary Player’s son thinks his dad should decline the Presidential Medal of Freedom from Donald Trump.

On Wednesday afternoon chaos hit the United States Capitol Building, resulting in the deaths of four Americans. On Thursday morning a Presidential Medal of Freedom ceremony was scheduled to take place just blocks away.

After the original ceremony in March was postponed due to the coronavirus pandemic, Annika Sorenstam and Gary Player were slated to receive the Presidential Medal of Freedom from President Donald Trump at 11:30 a.m. ET on Thursday morning in the East Room of the White House. Babe Didrikson Zaharias is also receiving the award posthumously.

One of Player’s six children – his eldest son, Marc – thinks his nine-time major champion father should politely decline the award, the nation’s highest civilian honor.

This isn’t the first time Player and his son have publicly butted heads.

“It is with great sadness that both my personal and business relationship with my father has deteriorated to the extent that it has,” said Marc in a June 2020 story that detailed an ownership and naming rights dispute between Player and the Gary Player Group, his company operated by Marc.

Annika Sorenstam, Gary Player and Babe Didrikson Zaharias to receive Presidential Medal of Freedom

Annika Sorenstam, Gary Player and Babe Didrikson Zaharias – posthumously – have been awarded the Presidential Medal of Freedom.

Despite turmoil just blocks away at the United States Capitol Building on Wednesday, Annika Sorenstam and Gary Player were to receive the Presidential Medal of Freedom from President Donald Trump on Thursday morning in the East Room of the White House. The closed ceremony was scheduled for 11:30 a.m. ET.

The ceremony was originally scheduled for March 23, 2020, but was postponed due to the pandemic. Babe Didrikson Zaharias also received the award posthumously.

The three join Arnold Palmer, Jack Nicklaus, Charlie Sifford and Tiger Woods as the only golfers who have received the nation’s highest civilian honor.

The award is given to individuals who have made exceptional contributions to the security or national interests of America, to world peace, or to cultural or other significant public or private endeavors. Other notable recipients include Muhammad Ali, Nancy Reagan, Mother Teresa, Billy Graham, Rosa Parks and Martin Luther King, Jr.

Sorenstam is the only player in LPGA history to card a 59 and won 72 times on tour, including 10 major titles. The eight-time LPGA Player of the Year was inducted into the World Golf Hall of Fame in 2003.

Player won 24 times on the PGA Tour, including nine major championships. The 85-year-old is one of just five players to win the career Grand Slam (Ben Hogan, Gene Sarazen, Nicklaus and Woods).

Zaharias, a two-time gold medalist in track and field at the 1932 Summer Olympics, went on to play professional golf where she also won 10 major championships.

Annika Sorenstam, Gary Player will receive Presidential Medal of Freedom

Annika Sorenstam and Gary Player will receive the Presidential Medal of Freedom from President Donald J. Trump on March 23.

Annika Sorenstam and Gary Player will receive the Presidential Medal of Freedom from President Donald J. Trump on March 23.

The two legends join Arnold Palmer, Jack Nicklaus, Charlie Sifford and Tiger Woods as the only golfers who have received the honor.

The award is the nation’s highest civilian honor and is given to individuals who have made exceptional contributions to the security or national interests of America, to world peace, or to cultural or other significant public or private endeavors. Notable recipients include Muhammad Ali, Nancy Reagan, Mother Teresa, Billy Graham, Rosa Parks and Martin Luther King, Jr.

“I am extremely honored to have been chosen to receive the Presidential Medal of Freedom,” said Sorenstam in a tweet. This is America’s highest civilian honor and certainly the most distinguished honor I’ve ever received. I am enormously grateful to the president for this honor and all it represents to me, to my family, to the LPGA and the Annika Foundation. I am proud to be the first female athlete who is a naturalized American citizen to be recognized in this way. It is an overwhelming feeling. I am grateful, I am humbled, I am moved, and I am blessed.”

Sorenstam, 49, won 72 times on the LPGA, including 10 majors. The eight-time LPGA Player of the Year was inducted into the World Golf Hall of Fame in 2003. She’s the only player in LPGA history to card a 59.

Born near Stockholm, Sweden, Sorenstam, won the 2006 U.S. Women’s Open title, her third, 19 days after she was sworn in as an American citizen at a ceremony in Orlando, Florida. Back then, Sorenstam said that she kept the American flag the government gave her on Flag Day displayed in her kitchen, a most beloved spot for a woman who authored a cookbook.