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Trump critics drag Tiger Woods over Medal of Freedom

6-5-2019 < RT 58 608 words
 

Golfer Tiger Woods received the highest US civilian decoration from President Donald Trump, prompting media and Democrats to brand him a Trump crony and dismiss his accomplishments in sports and life.


At the ceremony in the White House Rose Garden on Monday, Trump called Woods a “global symbol of American excellence, devotion and drive,” an extraordinary golfer, entrepreneur and philanthropist.


Anyone associated with the president in any way becomes a target for Trump’s critics, however – including the legendary golfer.

















Woods, now 43, became the first golfer of African-American or Asian heritage to win the PGA Masters tournament in 1997, only to hit a rough patch for several years due to personal trouble and injury. He came back to win the Masters last month, prompting Trump to announce he would honor him with the Presidential Medal of Freedom.


Some in the mainstream media, which has spent years accusing Trump of corruption, being an agent of the Kremlin, or both, now insinuated that some kind of money-making scheme was behind the president’s decision to decorate Woods.







Trump is an avid golfer and owns some 17 golf resorts in the US and abroad. He has also bestowed the Medal of Freedom on three other athletes so far: football players Roger Staubach and Alan Page, and baseball legend Babe Ruth.


Woods is the fourth golfer ever to be decorated with the medal, after Jack Nicklaus, Arnold Palmer and Charles Sifford, the first African-American to play on the PGA Tour. Nicklaus tweeted in support of Woods, as did the PGA.






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