Trump also cheats when he plays golf, says a new book
According to a Sports Illustrated reporter, the president moves the balls with his hands, "bribes" the caddies and tries to take advantage when others are distracted or from behind
US President Donald Trump has great self-esteem and his abilities, even on the golf course. He is convinced that "very few people" are able to beat him and during one of his many rest weekends away from Washington he even wanted to challenge Tiger Woods. The American champion, then, did not deny it and said he had a great time. Other colleagues of him, however, did not play the game and, after the duel, they accused Donald Trump of being a cheat.
Rick Reilly, a former Sports Illustrated columnist, collected their anecdotes and wrote a book on them: Commander in Cheat: How Golf explains Trump. The conclusions? "To say that Trump is cheating is like saying that Phelps is swimming."
The cheats
In the essay, which was anticipated by the New York Post, Reilly explains that Trump moves the balls with his hands, tells lies and, if he fails to reach the goal on the first attempt, he tries again when others are distracted or turned away. . Furthermore, according to the book, the commander-in-chief would bribe the caddies, or the people in charge of carrying the bag with a player's clubs, who often also check where the balls went.
In this regard, Reilly cites two episodes. The first would take place in the presence of Samuel L. Jackson. The actor would have seen with his own eyes the ball thrown by Trump ending up in the water. The president's caddy would have sworn, however, to have found it on the grass.
The second, however, would have seen Mike Tirico as a victim. During a golf game with the president, the sports journalist threw a ball on the grass 200 meters away and found it 15 meters from the hole, on a sandy area. Throughout the game, he couldn't explain how that was possible. Then, the caddy came over and told him that Trump had moved it.
According to Reilly, Trump is therefore not so good at playing golf, but above all at cheating. “He cheats in an incredible way. He cheats when they look at him, and he cheats when they don't look at him. Bara because that's how he plays golf ", writes the journalist who asks to review his handicap, or the number of strokes - calculated on an average of those shot - that he has available compared to a professional to complete the tournament (in golf is considered the index of an athlete's skill). According to the Golf Handicap and Information Network, the system that scores golfers in the United States, Trump's handicap would be just under 3, an index that would bring him closer to professional athletes (the fewer shots it takes to reach goal, the better you are considered to be). "If Trump has a handicap of 2.8, Queen Elizabeth is a pole vault," Reilly writes sarcastically in his book.
The other misconduct on the pitch
Reilly argues that Trump doesn't even respect sports etiquette. For example, he does not take off his hat when he shakes hands with his opponents at the end of the game and crosses the field with the cart, an action that according to the journalist in golf is equivalent to "hanging the laundry in the Sistine Chapel".
In addition, the president had a plaque placed at the entrance of one of his fields that reads "this is the best project he has ever made". The phrase was attributed to the architect Tom Fazio, who however denied having ever expressed himself in that way.
On the golf course of the president in Virginia there is also a memorial to the soldiers who died during the civil war, for a conflict that occurred centuries ago exactly on that spot. According to Reilly's reconstruction, to top it off, however, there is no evidence that there was a battle right where Donald Trump's golf course now stands.
