Barack Obama on the golf course (file)
Barack Obama on the golf course (file)Reuters

US President Barack Obama had already played six games of golf during his Christmas vacation in Hawaii, but on Sunday his seventh round nearly landed him in the PR sandbox as it forced two US Army captains to move their wedding from the site.

The soldiers, Natalie Heimel and Edward Mallue Jr., had planned to hold their wedding ceremony at the 16th tee box at Kaneohe Klipper Golf Course, located on Marine Corps Base Hawaii.

They were informed by the golf course on Saturday, a day before the wedding, that they would have to move the ceremony as Obama had scheduled to play a round there. The couple agreed and the wedding was moved to a site overlooking the 16th hole.

According to a spokesperson at the base, the couple had "no problem" with the change and were "happy their commander in chief would not be disrupted."

But evidently Obama realized the guffaw when he was later informed of what happened, and decided to call the newlywed couple just after their wedding to apologize, reports CBS News.

"A congratulations on your wedding," Obama said in the call. "I feel terrible. Nobody told us. Had they mentioned they were going to have a wedding on the 16th hole we would have skipped the 16th hole."

Apology or no, Senator Rand Paul (R-KY) took aim at Obama for the move, writing on Twitter "I usually say at least he isn't doing something harmful when he's playing golf...," and including a link to a story on the wedding.