When President Donald Trump met North Korean dictator Kim Jong-Un in June 2018, he missed the club championship at his Trump International golf course in Florida. Investor Ted Virtue won the championship, but apparently that didn't sit well with POTUS. One month later, Trump ran into Virtue on the course, while he was playing with his young son, and challenged him to a rematch for the championship, according to sportswriter Rick Reilly.
Reilly wrote the new book Commander in Cheat, which explores how Trump's relationship with golf may explain his character. Trump claims he won 20 championships and has a 3 handicap, but that's not true, according to Reilly's interviews with over 100 golf pros, amateurs, developers, and caddies. They describe how Trump lies about his scores, tramples etiquette by driving carts on the greens, and cheats with the help of caddies and Secret Service agents."Golf is like bicycle shorts," Reilly writes. "It reveals a lot about a man."
While speaking with Vox's Sean Illing, Reilly recounted the "most outrageous" example of Trump cheating at golf: stealing a ball from Ted Virtue's son, who was 10 or 11 years old, to win a dictated 'championship match.'
"He [Trump] sees Ted on the 9th hole and decides to drive his cart over there. He tells Ted: Congrats on winning the club championship, but you didn’t really win it because I was out of town. Ted tries to laugh it off, but Trump is dead serious. Trump says, 'We're going to play these last six holes for the championship.; And Ted's like, 'I'm playing with my son, but thanks anyway.' But Trump says, 'No, your son can play too. So they end up playing.
"They get to a hole with a big pond on it. Both Ted and his son hit the ball on the green, and Trump hits his in the water. By the time they get to the hole, Trump is lining up the kid's ball. Only now it's his ball and the caddie has switched it. The kid's like, "Daddy, that's my ball. But Trump's caddie goes, 'No, this is the president's ball; your ball went in the water.' Ted and his son look at each other confused, not sure if this is really happening. And Trump's caddie says, "This is the president's ball. I don't know what to tell you."
"This guy cheats like a Mafia accountant," Reilly concluded, adding that this story was confirmed by at least two members of Trump's golf club. According to Golf.com, Trump told Virtue they could be co-champions, but the plaque on Trump's locker reads "2018 Men's Club Champion," with no mention of sharing the title.
When Barack Obama was president, Donald Trump repeatedly criticized him for playing golf. However, President Trump has golfed significantly more than Obama, so much more that he is projected to double Obama's golf rate at the end of eight years, if re-elected. That's quite a contradiction for Trump, who stated during his 2016 presidential campaign: "I'm going to be working for you. I'm not going to have time to go play golf."
