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Chambliss Aces Golf With Obama

Updated 6:55 p.m. | Even without video, Sen. Saxby Chambliss should make ESPN SportsCenter’s top plays tonight.

The retiring Republican shot a hole-in-one on the 11th hole while golfing at Joint Base Andrews with President Barack Obama and two Senate colleagues Monday afternoon. That still probably won’t be enough to get the Georgia senator a sponsor’s exemption for next year’s Masters.

Chambliss said that he was prepared to buy a round for the foursome after his hole-in-one, as is a golfing custom, but Senate votes cut the outing short.

“I was prepared to, but … we didn’t get to finish,” Chambliss said off the Senate floor. “We only played about 15 holes before we had to come back and vote.”

Chambliss has golfed with other presidents before, including President Bill Clinton.

“This is the first time I’ve golfed with this president. I’ve served three and played golf with two out of three,” he said.

Chambliss’ feat is rather remarkable because few lawmakers have golfed with Obama during his frequent trips to the links.

Moreover, as we noted earlier, Chambliss wasn’t even the best golfer in the foursome. Sens. Bob Corker, R-Tenn., and Mark Udall, D-Colo., both had lower handicaps when Golf Digest listed Washington’s top golfers a couple of years ago.

Obama and the senators did discuss Syria, cybersecurity and fiscal issues, “but not great detail,” Chambliss said. “This was a day to get away from the office. The president seemed like he enjoyed himself, and I know the three of us did.”

A White House official said Chambliss and Corker won the match, beating Obama and Udall. Chambliss said the group has discussed golfing again in the future.

“It was just like playing with my usual Saturday morning foursome,  there was a lot of jawing back and forth on short putts — what you would usually expect in a normal golf foursome,” Chambliss said.
Humberto Sanchez contributed to this report.

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