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WASHINGTON (AP) – Collusion with Russia? The special council says no. Cheating on golf? Well, it's something else.
Whether it's shooting at Tiger Woods or exaggerating his disability, Donald Trump's alleged misdeeds on and around the golf course are the subject of a new book by former Sports Illustrated columnist Rick Reilly entitled : documents dozens of examples of sneaky golf behavior at the president, transgressions that professional golfers and duffers have spoken to.
"At golf, it's absolutely not exempt," Reilly told The Associated Press. "Dozens and dozens of people can convict him of cheating."
In 2017, Tiger Woods and Dustin Johnson, who is currently the world's No. 1 player, have been victims. Brad Faxon, an analyst at Fox Sports, partner of the president, said Trump's mistakes included scoring a score that did not count two bullets he had hit in the water on a hole.
"You've heard so much about it, it's almost like you want to witness it so you can tell stories," said Faxon.
No big deal, would say a lot. It's only a game.
But apart from official tournaments, golf is a game of honor in which each player plays the role of his own referee, retains his own score and imposes penalties for breaking the rules. Trump's cheating, Reilly said, motivated him to write the book.
Reilly said, "I do not know much about politics, but I know golf and that really offended me, not as a voter or citizen, but as a golfer."
Reilly cites players who accuse Trump, his junior, and secret service agents of regularly removing his golf balls from hard lies. Reilly writes at Winged Foot Golf Club in New York, the only non-Trump property of which the president is a member, said: "The caddies were so used to seeing him hit his ball on the fairway that they gave him a nickname: "Pele" "C is the football star of Brazil.
Sports announcer Mike Tirico said Trump had thrown the Tirico golf ball from the green into a nearby bunker when they played together.
Some of the allegations are not new. Boxer Oscar De La Hoya told AP in 2016 that Trump had cheated him twice in the space of two holes. "Yes, I caught it," said De La Hoya. "It was amazing. But I guess it was his career, so these are his rules. "
Trump, by all accounts, is a good golfer, especially for his age, writes Reilly. But the 2.8 time handicap that he claims is the product of manipulation. A handicap is based on the golfer's latest 20 scores and allows players of different skill levels to compete fairly. Someone with the Trump handicap would usually score about three on the normal. Although he has made more than 150 visits to his golf courses since taking office, Trump has only recorded one tour in the USGA Handicap Index online index – and 96 in all.
Trump's love for the game belies his criticisms of President Barack Obama's usual game and his own campaign statement that he would be so busy at the White House: "I'm not going to have time to play golf."
"It helps to know golf, because golf explains Trump," says Reilly. The president shares his public statements with golf metaphors, tweeting in December about the Federal Reserve: "The Fed is like a powerful golfer who can not score because he has no contact – he can not putter "
And Reilly argues that Trump's debut on the course provides a window into his zero-sum worldview.
Trump perfected his game at Cobbs Creek, a public course outside of Philadelphia, which he later described as filled with "prostitutes" and where he "learned everything." Reilly describes it as the kind of journey where "everyone tries," and where Trump learned: "I have to cheat them before they cheat me. "
Bryan Marsal, president of the 2020 American Open at Winged Foot, told Reilly that Trump had started a match with him as a partner, warning: "You see these two guys? They cheat. Look at me? I cheat. And I'm counting on you to cheat because we're going to beat those two guys today. "
Trump is not the first president accused of having derogated from the rules of golf. Bill Clinton was infamous for his "Billigans" – taking knockouts openly and without remorse. But Reilly, who has known Trump for decades and played with him for his book "Who's Your Caddy?", Recounts Trump's ploys and his other schemes as "so brazen that you almost admire him."
Reilly, clearly not a fan of the president, said he took on the project because of Trump's "big shot" – repeated during the campaign and at the White House – that he had won 18 championships.
Reilly could not corroborate a single Trump victory in a club championship and discovered that the president had at least one win in which Trump had never played on the course that day. club, and 12 who were "actually or super senior club championships."
The White House has not responded to a request for comment.
Reilly said he had challenged Trump to defend his reputation in a match on a course that did not belong to him, officiated by officials – offering $ 100,000 to a charity chosen by the president. Reilly, whose handicap is 4.8, is confident that Trump "can only cover 2.8. No way."
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