Megan Khang finds it ‘super cool.’ Nelly Korda was a bit overwhelmed. Alison Lee feels it shows the transcending power of golf. While the nation was gripped in anticipation of a presidential debate, a former POTUS made a quiet trip to the Robert Trent Jones Golf Club, a 45-minute drive from Washington. Not everyone was happy about Barack Obama’s visit to meet the U.S. Solheim Cup team, but it’s safe to say that the team members appreciated the gesture.

Asked about what they took away from the visit, the three LPGA pros sitting in the press conference pointed to three different facets. Khang admits “It was just super cool to have a past president kind of show up to team dinner.” 

The LPGA pro knows Obama has been a member of the club since 2017. Still, Khang feels grateful that Obama carved out some time from his busy schedule to drive up during the team dinner. It’s “incredible,” Khang concluded. Nelly Korda picked up the thread from there.

The world no.1 didn’t expect to hear everyone’s name from the former POTUS. But Obama addressed everyone by their name and congratulated them on their triumphs. The World No. 1 emphasized, “To add to that, he knew all of our names too, and he congratulated all of us on all of our success as well,” the two-time major champion said.

Seated beside her, Alison Lee, felt it shows that Golf can bring people together. “To see him there, and we see him on TV in the past, he was our former president, and to see him kind of connect with us and relate to us in a way, I think is really, really cool and something that only golf can bring,” Lee said during the media interaction.

Obama’s visit caught many off guard. Some felt that it needlessly added a patch of political color to the red, blue, and white canvas of the Solheim Cup. But actually, Barack Obama has hosted Solheim Cup teams before. 

Barack Obama’s past history of meeting LPGA Pros

Barack Obama was the last president to host a winning Solheim Cup team, meeting them in 2015. Before that, he also hosted the 2009 Solheim Cup winning team. At that time, Obama chatted with the LPGA pros about his game as well.

Natalie Gulbis later revealed that Obama talked about the birdie he made on a recent trip to Hawaii. The highlight was that it came from a 2-iron approach. Obama also asked what he could do to get his daughters into the game, to which Michelle Wie West and others suggested taking them to LPGA tournaments.

Notably, the 63-year-old’s “Shaka Sign” to Michelle Wie West, a fellow Hawaiian, went viral at that time. Interestingly, last year too, Obama congratulated Allisen Corpuz, a fellow Punahou School alum, on her U.S. Women’s Open victory.