Jenner hopes to play with Trump
Olympic champ, president both have links skills
Caitlyn Jenner has an invitation for President Trump: Meet her on the golf course to talk politics — one Republican to another — as well as to, ahem, lose.
Jenner says Trump suggested a golf outing when she saw him at the presidential inauguration in January, and she quipped, “Maybe he hasn’t called because he doesn’t want to lose to a 67-year old trans woman.”
“To be honest, he has bigger issues to worry about,” Jenner told USA TODAY Sports. “But maybe I can get on a golf course with him for three, four hours and get something done for transgender (rights).”
Trump would give Jenner a challenge on the golf course, with a handicap of 3, according to the U.S. Golf Association GHIN system, to Jenner’s 7. As for transgender issues, that also might be a tough one for Jenner to crack given the president’s removal of federal protection guidelines for transgender youth.
Jenner, who won the 1976 Olympic decathlon, has been fighting for transgender rights since coming out two years ago. Golf courses, particularly private ones, are not exactly shining lights of diversity, but Jenner says she has felt welcomed at her home course, Sherwood Country Club in Thousand Oaks, Calif.
“First of all, golf is a wonderful game. Anybody can play — man or woman or anyone in between,” said Jenner, who played in the LPGA Pro-Am in March and won the pro-am competition with her amateur team last year. “The game is dominated and played primarily by men. And you do have a little bit of male ego that comes out. For me, I haven’t experienced much sexism. I realize I’m well-known, so people might treat me differently. But I see how competitive ladies are and can be pushed back in general by guys’ attitudes.”
Jenner says she has her own space in the women’s locker room and plays on Ladies Mornings every Tuesday.
“My club has been magnificent,” she said. “In the men’s tournament, I said jokingly, ‘ Can I play?’ They said, ‘No women allowed.’ … I’d much rather be out there with the girls right now in (my life). It’s much more fun.”
Jenner said she’d like to see the golf community do more to get women playing the game.
“Let’s get kids into it,” she said. “My daughters, I wanted them to play. And Kendall, she could really play. But she was into horses. Now she doesn’t have the time. But I would encourage women to be out there. It’s a great sport you can play your entire life.”
At a celebrity golf event at Sherwood last year, Jenner jokingly asked her fellow golfers if she should hit from the men’s or women’s tees. It was a test, Jenner says, to see if she was respected as a woman but also whether she was respected as good enough to tee off from the men’s tees.
“I hit the ball hard,” she said.
“Maybe I can get on a golf course with him for three, four hours and get something done for transgender (rights).” Caitlyn Jenner, referring to President Trump