A new book claims President Trump is a notorious cheat in golf, a sport on which Trump prides himself and uses to meet with high-level political figures and schmooze with the golf elite.
Rick Reilly, a former Sports Illustrated columnist who has played with Trump, alleges that cheating is part of Trump’s golf strategy in his new book “Commander in Cheat: How Golf Explains Trump” which is out Tuesday.
“To say ‘Donald Trump cheats’ is like saying ‘Michael Phelps swims,” Reilly writes, according to the New York Post. “He cheats at the highest level. He cheats when people are watching and he cheats when they aren’t. He cheats whether you like it or not. He cheats because that’s how he plays golf.
“If you’re playing golf with him, he’s going to cheat,” Reilly adds.
Trump has a stated handicap of 2.8 — a number that Reilly said is fabricated. In the sport, the lower the handicap the better.
“If Trump is a 2.8,” Reilly writes. “Queen Elizabeth is a pole vaulter.”
Trump has hit the links with celebrities, including actor Samuel L. Jackson who once described an instance of cheating at Trump’s golf course in Bedminster, New Jersey, to Reilly.
“We clearly saw him hook a ball into a lake at Trump National,” Jackson said, “and his caddy told him he found it!”
Boxer Oscar De La Hoya and rock star Alice Cooper have also claimed to see Trump cheat on the course, often by having his caddy move his ball into a more favorable location.
“No matter how far into the woods he hits the ball, it’s in the middle of the fairway when we get there,” Ladies Pro Golf Association player Suzann Pettersen recounted.
In his book, Reilly says Trump also lacks good golf etiquette, writing that the president doesn’t remove his hat when shaking hands with players after a round and has been known to drive his cart onto the putting green.
