Obama tees off with ESPN host

President Obama hit the links Saturday with “Pardon the Interruption” host Tony Kornheiser and a pair of White House aides.

The outing with the ESPN personality comes following weeks of controversy surrounding the NFL’s handling of a series of domestic violence cases. 

{mosads}Earlier this month, White House press secretary Josh Earnest issued a rare statement following the news that the Baltimore Ravens had cut their star running back, Ray Rice, after a video of him punching his then-fiancee, Janay Palmer, in a casino elevator was revealed.

“The president is the father of two daughters,” Earnest said at the time. “And like any American, he believes that domestic violence is contemptible and unacceptable in a civilized society. Hitting a woman is not something a real man does, and that’s true whether or not an act of violence happens in the public eye, or, far too often, behind closed doors.”

Controversy over the NFL’s handling of the incident has only grown, and last week, Kornheiser’s ESPN colleague and occasional “PTI” guest host Bill Simmons was suspended by the network for calling football commissioner Rodger Goodell a liar. 

Simmons has clashed publicly with his employer before, including in 2008, when the network would not allow him to interview then-Sen. Obama during the presidential campaign. Simmons was allowed to interview Obama in 2012 for his podcast.

Kornheiser and his “PTI” cohost and former Washington Post colleague Michael Wilbon have become regular golfing partners of the president. They played together with Obama in July, and separately on different weekends earlier in the summer.

Presidential aides Joe Paulsen and Marvin Nicholson rounded out Saturday’s foursome at Fort Belvoir in Virginia.