Tiger opens up about Obama’s golf game

>>> he hit the ball well and got an amazing touch. he can certainly chip and putt. if he ever spent -- after these four years if he spends more time playing the game of golf, i'm sure he can get to where he's a pretty good stick.

>> that was none other than tiger woods with high praise for the president's golf game after the two played a round as partners over the weekend. nbc news white house correspondent kristin welker is live for us at the white house . and kristin , we understand the president and tiger woods went into the clubhouse as winners of that round. is that right?

>> reporter: well, that is what we're hearing. it's strategic of the president to have tiger on his team.

>> a good idea.

>> that's right. they were playing against the owner of the floridian, the golf resort where they were playing and the astros and ron kirk , u.s. trade representative . we didn't get a real lead out of what happened on the course but a golf digest reporter says that president obama said to tiger that he's glad that his game has improved. so it sounds like a fun afternoon was had by all.

>> kristin , to your point you actually asked jay carney yourself about the so-called limited access that you and your colleagues had to the president. what was the answer that jay carney gave you and were you satisfied?

>> reporter: well, martin, jay basically said that, look, they handled this weekend like they handle all weekends of golf, which is to sort of read out who the president is playing with after the fact. i made the point it's not just about a game of golf, not just about getting a picture of the president playing with tiger woods . there have been other meetings that have been unannounced here at the white house and it's really more about the broader issue of access. i can tell you that jay got a lot of questions about this today, martin. he, when asked, is the white house going to do anything differently, didn't signal that they would do anything differently, but it is clear that he is aware of the issue and they certainly did have to answer a lot of questions about it today.

>> let's move from restricting information to actually suggestively leaking it because the issue of the president's backup plan on immigration as we know appeared in " usa today ." there were questions to jay carney about that. and mr.carnew sa -- said that the president will not wait forever.

>> reporter: that's right. we saw a draft portion -- draft proposal of that which was leaked to " usa today " over the weekend and it sort of led to some ruffled feathers on the hill. marco rubio saying that plan would be dead on arrival if it were presented to congress. john mccain accusing the white house of intentionally leaking that draft proposal. that's an assertion the white house has pushed back against. this is a delicate dance, martin, and this sort of ruffled feathers could give someone like marco rubio some cover to spar publicly with the president but then to continue to work on immigration reform behind the scenes and not necessarily have to own this as president obama 's immigration reform proposal if, in fact, they do come up with something. i think what's significant is that after this weekend and that leaked draft proposal, no one walked away from the table. by all accounts everyone is still moving forward on immigration reform . of course, it's still an uphill battle because lawmakers are divided on some of the key issues.

>> kristin , thank you.