Trump to honor Gary Player, Annika Sorenstam with Medal of Freedom

WASHINGTON (AP) President Donald Trump is honoring a pair of retired pro golfers with the Presidential Medal of Freedom, the highest honor the president can give a civilian.

Annika Sorenstam and Gary Player will receive the medal during a White House ceremony on March 23, the White House announced Friday.

Both are members of the World Golf Hall of Fame.

Player, who is South African, won 24 PGA Tour events and 118 international tournaments.

Sorenstam, who is Swedish, completed her LPGA career with 72 tournament victories and was the dominant female player of her era, earning The Associated Press Female Athlete of the Year award three consecutive years beginning in 2003.

Sorenstam is the first LPGA player and the first female athlete who is a naturalized citizen to receive the Presidential Medal of Freedom, according to the LPGA.

Trump played with Sorenstam and Player last fall at his private club in northern Virginia.

The president gave the Presidential Medal of Freedom to Tiger Woods last year after Woods won his fifth Masters title.