Washington: US President Donald Trump headed to the golf course for the first time in over two months, engaging in his personal passion as well as attempting to show how the country can return to normal after stay-at-home orders taken against the coronavirus.
Trump arrived at the Trump National Golf Club in suburban Virginia around 10:30 a.m. on Saturday. He was spotted earlier wearing a white polo shirt and signature white "Make America Great Again" cap. The White House doesn't always confirm Trump's activities while at his golf courses.
The president's most recent golf outing was on March 8 at the Trump International course in West Palm Beach, Florida. He teed it up with members of the World Series-winning Washington Nationals baseball team, according to images posted by the players on social media. Trump played at the same course on March 7.
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Deborah Birx, the immunologist who coordinates the White House coronavirus task force, specifically mentioned golf as an activity Americans might safely enjoy this weekend during a news conference on Friday.
Birx mentioned golf in the context of efforts by states to relax social distancing, while specifically cautioning that Washington D.C. and nearby parts of Maryland and Virginia have the highest percentages of positive test rates for coronavirus in the country at the moment.
"I'm going to call your attention to the top three states - the top three states with the largest percent," Birx said.
"And this is so you can all make your decisions about going outside and social distancing, potentially playing golf if you're very careful and you don't touch the flags, and all of those issues," she said.
She mentioned golf three times, as well as "playing tennis with marked balls" and going to the beach while remaining socially distant during the Memorial Day long weekend, the unofficial start to summer.
Safety Measures
The US now has over 1.6 million confirmed cases of COVID-19, and over 96,000 have died, according to Johns Hopkins University.
States are moving to alleviate stay-at-home orders and allowing many types of business to reopen. Most US golf courses are now open, including those in Maryland and Virginia but so far not those in Washington.
Courses have taken a range of measures to promote safety, including removing bunker rakes, benches and water coolers, and blocking holes with foam to help golfers avoid touching flag-sticks.
The president talked about his own golf game and the professional sport on the NBC broadcast of a skins game on May 17 involving four PGA pros, which raised millions of dollars for coronavirus relief efforts.
"I do miss it. I haven't played, really, since this problem that we have started, I haven't been able to play golf for a while," Trump said. "I've been very busy."
The PGA Tour is scheduled to resume June 11-14 with the Charles Schwab Challenge in Fort Worth, Texas. The first string of events will be played without fans on site.
Until then, there are still reruns.
"I'm getting a little tired of watching 10-year-old golf tournaments where you know who won," Trump told NBC.
