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Obama Hits the Links With Senate GOP

Obama stands with Corker during a round of golf with senators on Monday. (Dennis Brack/Pool/Getty Images)
Obama stands with Corker during a round of golf with senators on Monday. (Dennis Brack/Pool/Getty Images)

President Barack Obama’s monthslong quest for a mulligan with Senate Republicans switched venues Monday from swanky dinners to the golf course, as he took three senators out for a round.

Obama is set to tee off with Republicans Saxby Chambliss of Georgia and Bob Corker of Tennessee and Democrat Mark Udall of Colorado, per a pool report. And for a president who doesn’t like losing, Obama sure picked a killer crew.

According to Golf Digest’s rankings of Washington’s top 150 golfers, Udall and Corker are the two best golfers among D.C.’s elected officials, recording 2 and 2.1 handicaps in 2011, respectively. Chambliss’ game is nothing to scoff at either, as he has a 7.4 handicap — about a stroke behind the best golfer in the White House, Joseph R. Biden Jr.

Chambliss, who is retiring after this Congress, will have more time to work on his game in the near future. But I guess the president hopes he can win his vote before he retires into that grassy sunset. Other GOP lawmakers who are in the top 150 and could be parts of future rounds are Sen. Richard M. Burr, R-N.C., and Speaker John A. Boehner, R-Ohio, who has played with the president before.

Just watch out for the sand traps, guys. You whiff a few shots with your wedge, and Obama might make you sign on to a comprehensive immigration bill.

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