Craig Ray Nine-times major winner Gary Player has endorsed current world No1 Tiger Woods as a future US presidential candidate.

Player was speaking at the launch of the Gary Player Invitational, which will be held at The Links at Fancourt in late November, to raise money for the Player Foundation, the mission statement of which is “to provide quality education for underprivileged children and strengthen impoverished communities plagued by disease and crime”. “Tiger Woods is my hero,” Player said after inspecting the course that will host leading professionals and celebrities in an attempt to add to the almost R100-million which Player’s tournaments have raised for charity in the last 25 years. “Here is a great role model,” Player said of Woods. “He is highly educated, well read, well dressed and beautifully spoken. “Mark my words, Tiger could one day run for president if he wanted to. He is the most well-known athlete in the world and by the time his career is over he’ll be one of the most recognisable men on Earth. “If Ronald Reagan could become president then so could Tiger.

“It’s not far-fetched. If he ever decides to go into politics he’ll have had much more experience in life and seen infinitely more of the world than Mrs Palin [US vice-presidential candidate] ever has. “He will most likely have met every world leader and visited almost every country, which would complement his intelligence. He’s seen poverty through his own charitable work and he would understand the issues facing the world more than most politicians do.” Woods is injured and has missed four months of the season. He is not expected to return to top-flight golf until early 2009. With the global credit crisis, golf in the US is under pressure in terms of sponsorship and TV viewership. Banks and motor manufacturers — two areas of the world’s economy under the most strain — back the majority of the PGA’s tournaments. And with Woods on the injury list golf viewership figures on the vital US networks have dropped by up to 40 percent. “Tiger is the golf tour,” Player said.

You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.