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Peyton Manning on golfing with President Trump: Un-American to turn down invite

The Memorial Tournament Presented By Nationwide - Preview Day 3

DUBLIN, OH - MAY 31: Peyton Manning reacts to a shot during the pro-am round of The Memorial Tournament Presented By Nationwide at Muirfield Village Golf Club on May 31, 2017 in Dublin, Ohio. (Photo by Sam Greenwood/Getty Images)

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Peyton Manning said although a lot of people tried to talk him out of golfing with President Donald Trump last month, he never hesitated in accepting the invitation.

“I heard Arnold Palmer say one time, ‘If the president of the United States ever asks you to play golf, you do it,’” Manning said on Jimmy Kimmel Live on Tuesday night. “It’s a no-brainer. It was a fantastic experience. We rode in the motorcade over [to the course], and I never felt safer playing golf.”

Manning, a Republican, also has played golf with President Bush. The former quarterback said he would have accepted an invitation from a Democratic president, too.

“I’ve had a chance to play with President Bush before,” Manning said. “If President Obama or President Clinton asked me, I’d be there in a heartbeat. It was just the experience of playing with the office that was pretty cool to me. And I think it would have been almost un-American to have said no.”