I SUDDENLY recall my answer to a query from my son some years back.
His query? “Popsee, can I also play golf like you?”
“Yes, son, but on one condition.”
“What’s the condition?”
“That you know how to count...properly.”
“Oh, sure,” says he, pursing his lips.
“I’m serious, son. In golf, counting is everything.”
I point this out again after I read Zeke Miller’s story the other day on the book, Commander in Cheat: How Golf Explains Trump.
Written by the eminent Rick Reilly, the book contains President Trump’s alleged misdeeds on the golf course.
In an interview with Miller of the Associated Press, Reilly documents “dozens of examples of underhanded golf behavior” by Trump, and the “president’s transgressions talked about by pro golfers and duffers alike.”
“In golf, Trump is definitely not exonerated,” Reilly tells Miller. “There’s been dozens and dozens of people that can declare him guilty of cheating.”
Reilly, the former columnist of Sports Illustrated, cites a round of Trump in the company of Tiger Woods, Dustin Johnson and Fox golf analyst Brad Faxon in 2017.
Quoting Faxon, Reilly says Trump’s offenses included jotting down a score that didn’t account for two balls he hit into the water on one hole.
“I don’t know much about politics, but I know golf and it really offended me, not as a voter or as a citizen—just a golfer,” says Reilly, a 4.8 handicapper, who questions Trump’s handicap of 2.8.
Reilly quotes players who accuse Trump, his caddie and Secret Service agents of regularly moving his golf balls out of difficult lies. He says caddies call Trump “Pele” for his penchant to kick his ball back onto the fairway.
Oscar de La Hoya says Trump cheated against him twice in 2016 in the space of two holes. “It was unbelievable,” says he.
Reilly also disputes Trump’s claim of 18 club championships tucked under his belt.
To prove his point, he has challenged Trump to a round of golf, offering $100,000 to a charity of the president’s choice.
“No way he can cover that 2.8 handicap of his,” says Reilly.
But will Trump bite Reilly’s challenge? Ummm.