A pair of champion South African golfers joined their country’s president for a visit to the White House on Wednesday in an appeal to President Trump’s love of the sport.
Ernie Els and Retief Goosen accompanied South African President Cyril Ramaphosa during an Oval Office meeting with Trump. Another legendary South African golfer, Gary Player, was unable to join, Ramaphosa said. The South African leader also brought a book that showcased golf courses in his country.
“What a group of golfers South Africa’s had. There must be something in the water, right?” Trump said.
Goosen is a two-time U.S. Open champion. Ernie Els was the top-ranked player in the world for nine weeks and won four major championships.
After the meeting devolved and grew more tense over Trump’s claims of “genocide” targeting white farmers in South Africa, he invited Els to speak. The Johannesburg native appealed to Trump about the importance of the South Africa-U.S. relationship.
“We still want to see our country flourish. We’ve got some great things going on,” Els said. “We need the U.S. to push this thing through… Very important for us to have your support and, you know, get the change we need.”
Trump later asked Goosen to speak, and he recounted his experience growing up in a mostly rural part of South Africa.
The U.S. president plays golf regularly at his courses in Florida, Virginia and New Jersey. His courses have also hosted the LIV golf league, a Saudi-backed competitor to the PGA.
Ramaphosa’s decision to bring Els and Goosen to the White House visit is a reflection of his efforts to make inroads with the president amid simmering tensions.
Trump has fixated on South Africa in recent months over claims that Afrikaners, a white ethnic minority, have been unfairly targeted. The president signed an executive order in February pausing foreign assistance to South Africa over claims that the government there “radically disfavored landowners.”
Earlier this month, the Trump administration welcomed a plane carrying 49 Afrikaners granted refugee status. The move raised eyebrows given the administration’s wider pause of the refugee program and crackdown on immigration.
South African officials have rejected the Trump administration’s claims, saying there is no evidence of genocide or persecution of Afrikaners in the country.
Updated at 1:28 p.m.
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