Why Larry Fitzgerald did not celebrate the hole in one he made alongside President Obama

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It is an unfortunate fact about golf that many players will never get to find out how they would react if they ever managed to make a hole in one.

While some players are seemingly able to make aces with frightening regularity, there are numerous fantastic golfers who have failed to ever find the bottom of the cup with a tee shot.

The celebrations can make the moment all the more special, particularly if one of those in your group is President Barack Obama.

When Larry Fitzgerald made a hole in one playing a round with President Obama

Obama claimed in 2016 to have a handicap of 13, while it was reported by CNN that he played more than 300 rounds of golf during his time in the White House.

In 2019, former NFL star Larry Fitzgerald invited Obama to play Seminole. It proved to be a round that both men would remember, as Fitzgerald told the Fore Play Podcast four years later.

“We got to the 13th hole, and he hit a really tight shot in there. President Obama hit it to six feet and he was chirping. And I was like, ‘that was a great shot, that was a great shot’,” he said.

“And I stepped up, eight iron, it was blowing into us, it was probably like 15. I hit a nice, little tight cut. The wind stood it up and it dropped and just rolled in. He got excited and I didn’t know how to respond because I saw the secret service in front of us and the back of us. I saw the guns.

“I put my hands up like, ‘thank you, thank you’. Don’t make any quick movements. It was awesome. It was a moment I’ll never forget.”

Larry Fitzgerald’s golf handicap has been heading in the right direction in recent years

Seminole is one of the most exclusive golf clubs in the United States. The Pro-Member event every year usually attracts an extremely impressive field, with the likes of Tiger Woods, Justin Thomas, and Rory McIlroy getting involved.

Meanwhile, Fitzgerald’s golf game has improved considerably over the last few years.

He was playing off 13 in 2018, while he was down to six ahead of the 2024 AT&T Pebble Beach Pro-Am. He had won the event at the iconic venue six years earlier.

It probably did wonders for his confidence knowing that he could hit the perfect golf shot in the presence of one of the most powerful people on the planet.