Tiger Woods gets round with Obama, awaits Match Play

Rory McIlroy is the No. 1 seed and will play Shane Lowry, a longtime friend and former partner on the Irish team that won the European Team Championships in 2007. In a similar match, former U.S. Open champion Graeme McDowell (Northern Ireland) plays three-time major champion Padraig Harrington (Ireland).

The toughest challenge might be the weather, with a front expected to move across the high desert overnight and bringing temperatures so low that light snow is possible. At best, it figures to be frigid for the morning matches as the sun is beginning to climb over The Ritz-Carlton Club at Dove Mountain.

``No one likes to play in adverse weather,'' said Ian Poulter, playing for first time since Hawaii, when the tournament took four days to start because of 40 mph wind.

Woods said he would be used to the wind and cold because that's what he dealt with in Florida with the president.

It was the second time Woods has played with a sitting U.S. president _ he once played with former President Bill Clinton at The Alotian Club in Arkansas.

`Playing with Mr. President was pretty cool,'' he said. ``He's just a wonderful person to be around.''

Woods doesn't use ``Mr.'' with hardly anyone. In fact, he has a nickname for most people in golf. He'll shorten the surname (''Poults'' for Poulter, ``Stricks'' for Steve Stricker) or simply add a ``y'' to their name (''Rosey'' for Justin Rose). And what name did he use for the leader of the free world?

``Partner,'' Woods said with a smile.

He sounded surprised to learn that Obama played left-handed, and when asked to describe the president's best shot, Woods said that ``he hit a few.''

``He's a pretty good athlete, and we all know he played a lot of hoops,'' Woods said. ``He's a lefty, but to see him out there hitting shots ... he hit it well, and we didn't play under the easiest conditions. It was blowing harder than this, and it was a little bit cooler than this. So we played under some tough conditions, and as I said, he hit the ball well. He's got amazing touch. He can certainly chip and putt.''

... contd.

ALSO READ

Anand topples Topalov

Only Sachin Tendulkar can decide on his retirement: Sanath Jayasuriya

IPL 2013: Virat Kohli steals show in RCB win

Serena Williams battles her way into Madrid Open semis