Golf world mourns Kim Jong-il
Updated December 20, 2011 16:39:52
North Korean leader Kim Jong-il’s death was noted on Twitter as an epic loss to golf, with hundreds recalling the Stalinist state media's reports of Kim's 11 holes-in-one in a single round in 1994.
Reports hailed Kim's 38-under par 34 over 18 holes at the 7,700-yard (7,041m) Pyongyang Golf Course in his first try at golf, a feat watched purportedly by 17 security guards protecting the man hailed as ‘Dear Leader’.
Kim, who died on Saturday of a heart attack at age 69, was 52 at the time he purportedly fired a round where birdie was his worst score on any hole.
Twitter sceptics wondered whether or not Kim might have tried to surpass such stars as Tiger Woods or reigning English world number one Luke Donald had he truly gone 21 strokes below the best score from a US PGA golfer.
“Look at it this way: with Kim Jong Il dying, everybody will be moving up one spot in the world golf rankings,” noted Dan Daly in a Twitter posting.
Others pondered the golf showdowns that never happened.
“Kim Jong-il’s passing means Luke Donald is now indisputably golf's world no.1,” tweeted John Mackay.
“Congrats Luke. Just a shame it wasn't settled on the course.”
“Golf world mourns the passing of the prodigious world leader never to win a major,” tweeted Shaun Hinds.
Kim Jong Il now in warm corner of hell with Stalin: McCain
Press Trust Of India
Washington, December 20, 2011
Though President Barack Obama is yet to voice American approach to new North Korean “Respected Comrade”, top US lawmakers have wished his father, the late Kim Jong Il, “a warm corner in hell”, alongside the likes of Muammar Gaddafi, Osama bin Laden, Hitler and Stalin.
“The world is a
better place now that Kim Jong-Il is no longer in it,” said Senator John McCain, a Republican lawmaker who unsuccessfully contested for the President in 2008.
McCain was not alone, several other lawmakers said that Kim, called “Dear Comrade” by his colleagues, had subjected his people to “dire poverty and cruel oppression under one of the most totalitarian regimes the world has ever known.”
“I can only express satisfaction that the Dear Leader is joining the likes of Gaddafi, bin Laden, Hitler and Stalin in a warm corner of hell,” McCain said as he urged China to play a lead role as a responsible world power.