The White House made a rare admission Friday morning: Donald Trump, who has visited golf courses on nearly 80 days of his 308-day presidency, is – wait for it – playing golf.
The president himself made the disclosure on Twitter, breaking with his administration’s tradition of rarely acknowledging the obvious.
Trump tweeted Friday morning that he would be speaking with Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan before heading to his Trump National Golf Club in Jupiter, Florida.
He wrote that he would ‘play golf (quickly) with Tiger Woods and Dustin Johnson’ before returning to work at his Mar-a-Lago resort club.
Trump tweeted generically that he would be holding ‘talks on bringing even more jobs and companies back to the USA!’ but didn’t say who would be included in those discussions.
Donald Trump will play golf with Tiger Woods and Dustin Johnson on Friday; he’s pictured with Woods during a round in December 2016
The president tweeted Friday morning that he would spend part of his morning talking with his counterpart in Turkey about the Middle East ‘mess’
Afterward, he said, he will play golf with Tiger Woods and Dustin Johnson – but ‘quickly’ – so he can get back to work
Trump was photographed with a putter in his hand – a rarity – during his Nov. 5 round with Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe
Trump last played a round with Tiger Woods in December 2016 when he was president-elect, according to Golf Digest.
The former world number-one player later wrote on his website that Trump had serious golf skills.
‘What most impressed me was how far he hits the ball at 70 years old. He takes a pretty good lash,’ Woods wrote.
‘Our discussion topics were wide-ranging; it was fun. We both enjoyed the bantering, bickering and needling.’
‘We didn’t have a match and played for fun,’ Woods added. ‘I was testing drivers and fairway woods, and changed some settings. I think he enjoyed seeing the difference in shots when you experiment.’
Johnson and Woods are pictured during the Farmers Insurance Open golf tournament at Torrey Pines last January
President Trump bumped into Tiger Woods at the official presentation of the Presidents Cup during the final day singles matches last month
Trump, an avid golfer and gold course owner, criticized Barack Obama frequently during his presidential campaign for playing too much golf while in office.
‘While our wonderful president was out playing golf all day, the TSA is falling apart, just like our government! Airports a total disaster!’ he tweeted in May 2016.
Trump said during his historic White House run that the ‘problem’ with Obama was that ‘he’s played more than people on the PGA Tour.’
‘He plays a lot. He’s like a touring professional in terms of the amount of play.’
On Wednesday Trump played a round at his course in West Palm Beach, although the White House has yet to admit he swung a club that day.
Trump will speak Friday morning on the phone with Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan
The White House has generally forbidden the press from getting anywhere near him when he swings a club.
Trump told DailyMail.com during a June 2016 mid-campaign trip to visit his two courses in Scotland that he didn’t want anyone to photograph him taking a practice swing or even holding a club while he was there.
‘That’s all I need,’ he said, ‘and then the press will say I played 18. I’m not playing golf. I’m trying to become president, right?’