Today's Poolitzer Prize, awarded semi-regularly to pool reports of unusual wit, detail or news value, goes to a pair of dispatches from the New York Times' Jeff Zeleny, who covered the president-elect's golf outing in Kailua, Hawaii.
Among Zeleny's insights: Barack Obama has a strong drive, he enjoys a good spam musubi, and he has no compunction about plying reporters with beer.
The winning pool reports, edited only for clarity, after the jump:
President-elect Barack Obama left his vacation rental house at Noon local time, with a tee-time at a nearby golf course awaiting. The motorcade arrived at 12:15 p.m. Your pool watched for several minutes -- from a fair distance away -- as Mr. Obama laced up his white golfing shoes in the backseat of an SUV.Mr. Obama, wearing black shades, a white polo shirt, light-brown cargo shorts, short white socks and golf shoes, made his way toward the driving range. He spotted your pool, standing about 15 feet away on the other side of a fence, and briefly smiled as he walked past.
"OK guys, come on," Mr. Obama said, looking toward the photographers as they snapped away, his first encounter with the pool since he arrived in Hawaii. "How many shots do you need?"
It was unclear who was golfing with Mr. Obama, but it appeared to be friends from Hawaii. He stepped up to the driving range and stretched for several minutes, putting the club behind his back and bending over slowly, as he got ready for his game. He swung several practice puts, the first going far off to the right, with the following shots straightening out and growing in distance.
"He's a lefty!" said one man, who was peering through the fence at Mr. Obama.
Indeed, Mr. Obama is a left-handed golfer. Eugene Kang, a political aide who is along on the trip, also accompanied Mr. Obama to the driving range. (Your pool can report that he has a good drive.)
The golfing commenced shortly after 12:30 p.m. They are set to play 18 holes.
Your pool is holding in the club house, without the president-elect in our view. More when the game finishes or as events warrant.--------
President-elect Barack Obama finished his afternoon golf game about 5:30 p.m. local time, five hours after arriving at Olomana Golf Links.
There is no word on Mr. Obama's score or any of the others in the foursome.
But half-way through his 18 holes, as he stopped by the snack bar, he unexpectedly bumped into the pool sitting outside the club house. Asked how his game was going, he smiled and conceded: "I'm not that good."
He chatted for a moment, telling the pool to have a beer and put it on his tab. No one took him up on the offer.
As for Mr. Obama and his group, a snack bar clerk later confirmed that he purchased two hot dogs, two spam musubi, two passion orange sodas, one Powerade and one coke, for a tab of $17.75. The spam musubi, a local luncheon specialty, consists of spam and a fried egg on a bed of rice, all held together with a dried seaweed wrap. (Visualize a very big sushi role, slightly larger than a Hostess Ho Ho.)
The golf course was located in the Windward community of Waimanalo, about 20 minutes from Waikiki. The 18-hole course, a par 72, is set against a backdrop of the Ko'olau Mountain Range. The public course, according to marketing materials, features challenging holes of water hazards, sand traps and undulating topographical conditions.
The pool held near the clubhouse for the duration and did not watch the president-elect play. The motorcade rolled out of the golf course at 5:42 p.m., with Mr. Obama seen on his cell phone, as he made his way back to the Kailua vacation house.
Evening plans? Uncertain.
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