Nicolai Haugsted
Former employee makes stunning claims about Trump’s long list of golf victories.
Donald Trump has repeatedly celebrated his success on the golf course, building a collection of club championship titles that reportedly now exceeds 40.
Questions surrounding those victories have followed him for years, however, and fresh attention is being directed at how some of his remarkably successful rounds were achieved.
Sportswriter Rick Reilly, who has written extensively about Trump’s golf, has cited accounts from people familiar with his games, including a former caddie. Their allegations paint a markedly different picture from the sporting achievements Trump publicly celebrates.
Trump celebrates another victory
Trump recently added to his record at Trump National Golf Club Bedminster, where he reportedly won two senior categories.
After recording a score of 70, Trump celebrated the result on social media and suggested natural ability had compensated for his limited opportunity to practice.
“Winning shot at the Bedminster Club Championship! Many thanks to everyone who participated. I won with a score of 70 and am so honored by it, because unlike the rest of the field, I get very little time to practice because I am focused on many other things. It’s called TALENT, and I have it, and they don’t!” Trump wrote, according to the source text.
His latest success adds to a championship tally that has become a familiar part of Trump’s public persona as a golfer. According to an attendee cited following the latest presentation, Trump was credited with 43 club championship victories.
Reilly disputes the significance of that record.
Former caddie describes unusual practices
Accounts collected by Reilly allege that Trump’s employees have sometimes played an active role in ensuring favorable scores.
According to Reilly’s description of information from a former Trump caddie, staff positioned farther along the course would allegedly improve the position of Trump’s ball and intervene in other ways.
“Yes, Trump actually has caddies waiting farther ahead on the course who improve his lie, throw his balls out of bunkers and pick up putts of just under two and a half metres that they have decided he doesn’t need to hole,” Reilly said, according to The irish Star.
Such claims are allegations rather than independently established facts, and the material provided does not include a response from Trump to the specific accusations.
Questions about Trump’s golf record are hardly new. Reilly recalled discussing the subject with him as far back as 2000, when Trump claimed to have already won roughly a dozen championships.
The assertion surprised the sportswriter because he had previously watched Trump struggle during televised celebrity golf competitions, including events at Pebble Beach.
“I just blinked at him. I was looking at a guy who couldn’t even get out of a bunker if he’d had a ladder,” Reilly wrote about the encounter.
Trump’s reported collection of titles has expanded substantially during the years since that conversation.
Reilly argues that part of the explanation lies in how Trump has treated newly acquired or constructed golf courses.
According to the sportswriter, Trump has sometimes played a round at a new property before subsequently counting the performance toward his championship record.
“Every time he buys or builds a new golf course, he plays the first round by himself and declares it the club championship,” Reilly said.
Trump, meanwhile, continues to publicly promote his golfing achievements, with his recent Bedminster victory becoming the latest addition to a record that he presents as evidence of his sporting ability and that Reilly has spent years challenging.
