Throughout his football career, Peyton Manning has been in countless high-pressure situations. But none of them compared to standing on the first tee with a former president.
Manning recounted a story of golfing with Barack Obama, who was a special guest during Monday’s ManningCast broadcast. The way Manning tells it, the pair was golfing at Riviera Country Club in Los Angeles, which has a strict “no mulligans” rule. With spectators looking on, Obama drove a ball right down the middle of the fairway, putting pressure on Manning to do the same. The two-time Super Bowl champion could not, though, as he topped it into the out-of-bounds area below the tee box.
Thankfully for Manning, presidential authority supersedes the club rules, as Obama declared the former quarterback was allowed to re-tee.
“It was the least I could do, man,” Obama said after Manning offered his thanks. “Because I did feel bad for you.”
Thankfully for Manning, he wasn’t above taking the former president’s pity. Manning ended up beating Obama that day, though Obama said that his game has improved since then and he was up for a rematch. If and when that rematch comes, perhaps Obama will let Manning tee off first and alleviate some of the first-hole pressure.
