President Donald Trump was seemingly thankful for his golf game on Thursday as he spent Thanksgiving detailing his many achievements on the course.
Despite being elected to office over a year ago, Trump couldn’t resist making a small dig at his former political rival, Joe Biden, when he took aim at the former President’s golf game during a Thanksgiving call with military members.
One of the petty officers on the call asked Trump, 79, if he and Biden were ‘going to play that golf match,’ which sparked not only the mockery but also a stream of self-adoration.
‘I’d love to. I’ve invited him but he doesn’t want to show up,’ Trump claimed. Trump and Biden’s first presidential debate last year, before the latter pulled out and Kamala Harris replaced him as the Democratic nominee, teetered off the rails when they traded jabs over their golf games.
Answering questions from CNN moderator Dana Bash about concerns voters have expressed about their age, the pair’s bickering descended into Trump and Biden engaging in a standoff over their handicaps.
Trump has previously made boasting claims about his golfing success, bragging that he has won multiple club championships.
And he doubled down on his claims on Thursday as he insisted that they were all legitimate victories – despite past accusations of cheating against the president.
‘I know a lot about golf. I’ve won 38 golf championships and I don’t get to practice very much,’ he continued.
‘I won one last year. I won a club championship, beating a 27-year-old kid. I said ‘You know, I’m decades older than you but the fairway doesn’t know how old you are,’ as you walk up the middle and he’s in the rough.
‘I’ve been a good golfer over the years. Club championships are our majors. I’ve won 38 of them, every one of them legitimately. It has to be legitimate because you have a lot of people following you with club championships.’
He went on to claim that he has a ‘very low handicap’ but dodged around providing a definitive number.
‘I guess I’m very – I got to be right around scratch or better. I beat a plus-three. That’s three better, three below par. If you look at it for those that don’t know, in the finals of the club championship last year, with all I was going through and with no practice. So, I’m a good golfer.’
Trump has been frequently accused of cheating and liberally interpreting the rules on the golf course.
Rick Reilly’s book, ‘Commander in Cheat’, published in 2019, examines the president’s apparent penchant for cheating in golf.
‘Trump doesn’t just cheat at golf,’ Reilly wrote in an excerpt published by Golf.com . ‘He cheats like a three-card Monte dealer. He throws it, boots it, and moves it.
‘He lies about his lies. He fudges and foozles and fluffs. At Winged Foot, where Trump is a member, the caddies got so used to seeing him kick his ball back onto the fairway they came up with a nickname for him: ‘Pele.’
Earlier this year, film star Samuel L. Jackson also accused him of cheating when the pair played a round together.
However, MLB legend Roger Clemens appeared to defend the president when they played a round together in the summer.
Clemens and Trump played at the latter’s Trump National Golf Club in Virginia with the baseball star’s son, Kacy, and the club’s director of golf, John O’Leary, per the Daily Beast .
The former New York Yankee shared a photo of the group’s scorecard and while Trump shot a respectable 77, he still finished behind the other three players in his group.
Kacy, 31, shot a 69, O’Leary wasn’t far behind with a 71 and Clemens finished one stroke ahead of Trump with a 76.
‘For everyone asking about the scorecard! Mr. President didn’t miss a fairway!!,’ he said.
