Saquon Barkley, Jalen Hurts recall their golf course outing with former President Barack Obama: ‘That was cool’
Though Hurts couldn't golf with Barkley and Obama because of his contract language, the Eagles quarterback told the former president that "he didn’t want these problems yet.”
Saquon Barkley said he found out last week that he would be golfing Tuesday with former President Barack Obama. It was an obvious “yes” when he was offered the chance, but the nerves didn’t set in until he stepped onto the practice range at Merion Golf Club.
Barkley, an avid golfer, had played Merion during the Eagles’ autism foundation golf outing. But that day didn’t include a playing partner quite like this one, and there was Obama warming up as Barkley arrived Tuesday.
“How do I start this conversation and what do I say?” Barkley said he thought to himself.
But Obama, Barkley said, saw him and started the conversation himself. Phew.
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It was a dream experience for Barkley and for Jalen Hurts. It was Jeffrey Lurie and Obama vs. Barkley and one of Obama’s friends. Hurts, who doesn’t golf — more on that later — walked along with the group. Barkley called it “probably one of the coolest experiences I’ve had in my life.” Hurts, who last year listed Obama as one of his six dream guests at a hypothetical dinner part, said Obama was “kind of like an uncle figure out there.”
Barkley’s team didn’t win, he said. It’s football season for Barkley, not golf.
“If you’re not focused on golf right now and one of your first rounds is there, it’s a tough place,” Barkley said of Merion.
Asked how he played on famous “Quarry Hole” 16th, Barkley said he made a bogey. He then double-bogeyed 17 and finished with a bogey on Merion’s signature 18th hole. That bogey putt, Barkley said, came on a putt he didn’t really focus on. He thought he was out of the hole and just hit it. As golfers know, those are always the putts that end up dropping.
Barkley kept the details of the on-course conversations private, but said he did ask Obama a leadership question and later asked Obama about his early rise in politics. Obama, Barkley said, had a “well-thought-out answer.”
And while there wasn’t too much talk about politics and policy out there, Barkley and Hurts both said there was trash talk. Barkley chirped Obama after he and Lurie had an early lead, questioning whether they were finishers, and Obama quickly responded with his record winning races.
“To see him out there enjoying himself and talking a little trash, that was cool,” Hurts said.
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Hurts had some of his own. “I told him he didn’t want these problems yet,” Hurts said. “By contract I can’t golf. His day will come.”
Hurts remarked in training camp about how Lurie told him he couldn’t golf and said that it was a story for a different time. Reminded of that Wednesday, Hurts said it still wasn’t the time. But Barkley said he thinks Hurts has the “golf bug” after the experience.
The other guests at Hurts’ fictitious dinner party: Michael Jordan, Kobe Bryant, Muhammad Ali, Frankie Beverly, and Denzel Washington.
“I’ve met some and we’ve lost some to Father Time,” Hurts said. “But the only one left is Denzel Washington.”
As for Barkley, his golf bucket list doesn’t get much better than a former president. That’s any president, Barkley clarified. But he did think for a few seconds and then came up with one on every golfer’s list: “Tiger,” Barkley said.