President Donald Trump plans to award three golfers the Medal of Freedom on Thursday, as part of his last actions as president of the United States.
The White House confirmed that Trump would award the nation’s highest civilian honor to golfers Annika Sorenstam, Babe Didrikson Zaharias, and Gary Player.
Sorenstam was a champion in women’s golf in the 1990s, winning 72 official LPGA titles and ten major championships. She is also the only woman to shoot a 59 in LPGA history.
Zaharias was a champion female Olympic athlete before she took up golf in the 1930s and led the sport by winning 10 major championships. Zaharias died in 1956.
Player, known as the “Black Knight,” won 165 golf tournaments including nine majors championships.
Currently, Arnold Palmer, Jack Nicklaus, Charlie Sifford and Tiger Woods are the only golfers to receive the Medal of Freedom.
Former President George W. Bush gave the awards to Nicklaus and Palmer, while former President Barack Obama awarded the medal to Charlie Gifford. Trump awarded the medal to Tiger Woods in 2019 just days after his dramatic comeback victory in the Masters in 2019.
Thursday’s award ceremony at the White House will be closed to the press, as the president has largely shut out the media from any kind of access to him during his last days in office.
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