Suzann Pettersen, LPGA star, on Trump: ‘I’ve learned lots from him’

LPGA legend Suzann Pettersen defended her longtime friend and golf buddy President Trump, saying she’s learned over the years not to take everything he says literally.

In an interview with Norwegian newspaper Verdens Gang, Ms. Pettersen said she’s quite fond of Mr. Trump and has turned to him for advice on a number of occasions during her successful career.

“To me personally, he has been extremely helpful,” she said. “He has given many good answers to things I’ve wondered about. … And I’ve learned lots from him.”

Ms. Pettersen sparked a social media firestorm during the 2016 election after she tweeted congratulations to Mr. Trump for his presidential victory.

“I was only congratulating a friend for winning the presidential election in the United States, which after all is quite something,” she said. “I would have done the same for another friend who got a new job or a new position.

“I’m not a supporter of what he says or stands for,” she continued. “I thought it was very strange during the presidential campaign that he wasn’t smarter about how he communicated. He could have won more easily, but made some blunders with his statements. That’s because he is so stubborn. He has not changed five millimeters since becoming president.”

Ms. Pettersen said Mr. Trump called her at least once a month to chat about golf before he became president, and that they have met twice since he took office.

“I’ve got to know Trump so well that I don’t take everything he says literally,” she said. “Yeah, you’ll never meet another person who loves himself as much as he does, but I have also met him on another level altogether, before he was president. I know how much he cares. He called me once a month and asked how things were going. It was always about golf. He is totally golf-crazed. Golf is the only thing the man thinks about.”

Ms. Pettersen said the president is a brazen golfer who isn’t afraid to bend the rules in his favor.

“He cheats like hell,” she joked. “So I don’t quite know how he is in business. They say that if you cheat at golf, you cheat at business. I’m pretty sure he pays his caddie well, since no matter how far into the woods he hits the ball, it’s in the middle of the fairway when we get there.”

“I just laugh,” she added. “I’m someone who likes being teased and I like teasing others, and Trump takes it well, and that must be why he likes me.”