The debate over Tiger Woods receiving the Presidential Medal of Freedom questions why he’s getting the award without ever disputing that he deserves it.
Ethics advocates are focused instead on President Trump’s motives for bestowing it. The real estate mogul’s business relationship with Woods means his companies stand to benefit from an award that increases the professional golfer’s star power and places Monday’s ceremony squarely at the intersection of private income and high public office.
“There have been plenty of notable people to be given the Presidential Medal of Freedom before, but when it’s someone who is notably in business with the president, that raises serious questions about whether it’s being given just for his accomplishments in golf or is it because the president’s golf empire is marketing a Tiger Woods course?” said Jordan Libowitz, spokesman for Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington, a watchdog group.
The president announced he would present Woods with the nation’s highest civilian honor last month, following a triumph at the Masters Tournament that marked the golfer’s fifth win at Augusta National Golf Club and his first major championship in more than a decade.
The two have a history that spans more than a decade and stretches well beyond hitting the links together.
Woods agreed in 2014 to design the course at Trump World Golf Club Dubai, a real estate project managed by the Trump Organization that’s scheduled to open this year. He heralded the site in a recent issue of Trump magazine, which featured a Q&A with the golfer, describing him as a “lifelong champion,” according to the Washington Post’s David Fahrenthold.
When Woods grappled in the past decade with infidelity, addiction, and injury, then went on to mount a historic comeback, the president reminded the public of his loyalty to the golfer during his “difficult period.”
While it’s not out of the ordinary for presidents to award the Medal of Freedom to public figures for whom they have an affinity, most occupants of the Oval Office have distanced themselves further from their private interests than Trump.
“What makes this problematic is there’s this two-way relationship because there’s the president making money off a golf course with Tiger Woods’ name on it,” Libowitz said. “It’s a different kind of relationship than the kind of typical back-scratching, D.C. action.”
Trump’s business dealings have come under closer scrutiny than ever before since he won the 2016 presidential election.
Rather than selling the Trump Organization or placing it into a blind trust afterward, he turned over control to his two oldest sons, an arrangement that drew significant criticism from ethics experts who warned Trump could profit off of the presidency.
Despite Woods’ accomplishments, the award furthers a perception that people who do business with the Trump Organization receive favorable treatment, said Richard Painter, who served as chief ethics lawyer to President George W. Bush and unsuccessfully campaigned as a Democrat for one of Minnesota’s two seats in the U.S. Senate. “Why does he get the medal? Well, he does business with Trump.”
If Trump’s decision raises eyebrows, there’s still no question about his authority to make it.
“It’s so open-ended, and people ask who deserves an award, and that’s completely up to the president,” Christopher Devine, a political science professor at the University of Dayton who studied the Presidential Medal of Freedom, said. “It’s a unilateral exercise of power, like it or not, who gets the award.”
Woods lives close to Trump’s Palm Beach, Fla., property, Mar-a-Lago, and the two have played golf at the president’s club in nearby Jupiter. During the Thanksgiving 2017 weekend, they were joined by Dustin Johnson, and in February, they played with Jack Nicklaus.
In March 2014, Trump named a villa at Trump National Doral Golf Club in Miami after Woods.
“We are in the presence of a true legend, an extraordinary individual who has transformed golf and achieved new levels of dominance,” the president said at Monday’s ceremony. “He inspired millions of young Americans with his thrilling wire-to-wire victories.”
Woods earned the medal with his contributions to the game of golf and his career comeback, Devine said.
And he’s hardly the first golfer to receive it: Others include Jack Nicklaus, Arnold Palmer, and Charlie Sifford. Woods will be the 29th athlete to accept the medal — and the first who’s still active, according to Devine’s research.
“The age of Tiger has given us moments that will live forever in sporting lore,” Trump said, and his victory at the 2019 Masters “was one of the most incredible comebacks that golf or any sport has ever seen.”
