[Public Papers of the Presidents of the United States: WILLIAM J. CLINTON (1999, Book II)]
[September 14, 1999]
[Pages 1535-1536]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office www.gpo.gov]



Exchange With Reporters in Queenstown, New Zealand
September 14, 1999

    Q. How's your golf game today, Mr. President? Did it improve as you 
went along?
    The President. It got a lot better. It had nowhere to go but up when 
I started. No, we did better, and we won the match, thanks mostly to my 
partner here. But we did okay. We played the way partners should play. 
When I had a good score, he didn't; when he 
had a good score, I didn't play good. We wasted no shots.
    Burton Shipley. The President suggested 
at one stage that we were playing very good brother-in-law golf. I 
thought the line was very good.
    Q. [Inaudible]
    The President. We did, we actually played the pro and his partner, and we won, and 
they bought me a Diet Coke. It was a big stake here; it was great.
    Q. [Inaudible]--the last hole?

[[Page 1536]]

    The President. No, we won that, too. All four of us parred all four 
holes the second time we played.
    Mr. Shipley. But we got a couple more 
strokes.

Situation in East Timor

    Q. Are you satisfied with how the talks went in New York today?
    The President. What?
    Q. It seemed to be positive. It seemed that the Indonesians signed 
on to what the United States wants.
    The President. It appears so. You know, the initial report I got was 
quite good, but I want to get a detailed briefing about exactly where we 
are. I think the important thing is to get the force mobilized, get it 
in in a hurry, and also get the humanitarian aid out there. There are a 
lot of people still actually in East Timor who need food and supplies, 
so we've got a lot of work to do.

Hurricane Floyd

    Q. What have you heard about the hurricane?
    Q. Are you monitoring Hurricane Floyd?
    The President. Yes. I talked to Mr. Witt 
this morning, and he told me he would call me back in about 12, 14 hours 
and let me know where it was. I've not talked to him since I got up this 
morning.
    Q. It sounds like a monster storm, sir.
    The President. Yes, he said it's going to be huge. And we didn't 
know at the time how many States would be hit for sure. But all the 
experts think it's going to be a very, very large storm. We'll just have 
to hope for the best.

President's Visit

    Q. [Inaudible]
    The President. It's fabulous; it's really quite a wonderful course. 
It's an honest course. It's a good course. It plays hard, but it's an 
honest course.
    Q. What do you think of Queenstown?
    The President. I wish I had weeks to spend here. You know, when we 
were coming in the airplane, landing, everybody on our plane was just 
gasping when we saw the landscape. It's just so beautiful. You're all 
very fortunate.
    Q. When are you coming back, Mr. President?
    The President. How about next week? [Laughter]

Round of Golf

    Q. [Inaudible]
    The President. This guy hits the ball 
further than any person his age I've ever played with, including a lot 
of the pros I've played--water treatment.
    Mr. Shipley. Just not as straight as the 
pros.
    The President. And it's only because his 
public service has kept him from playing every day that he's not a 
scratch golfer.

Chelsea Clinton

    Q. What did Chelsea do today?
    The President. I think she looked around here and went running. I 
don't think she went caving or anything as great as yesterday.

Note: The exchange began at 6:41 p.m. at the Millbrook Resort following 
a round of golf. In his remarks, the President referred to his golf 
partner Burton Shipley, husband of Prime Minister Jennifer Shipley of 
New Zealand; and his opponents, professional golfer John Griffin and 
publisher Mike Robson. A tape was not available for verification of the 
content of this exchange.