By Marisa Laudadio
1:00pm PDT, May 9, 2024
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Donald Trump: business mogul, former president, reality star and… golf champion?!
In his dreams, says sports writer Rick Reilly, who shared his take on Trump's golf ethics after Trump made headlines on March 24 when he boasted about being awarded two championship trophies by one of the 18 golf courses he owns.
The "So Help Me Golf: Why We Love the Game" author made an appearance on Nicolle Wallace's "Deadline: White House" show to talk about his first-hand observations — as well as stories he's been told — about how Trump plays the game.
The big takeaway?
"I've always said golf is like bicycle shorts. It reveals a lot about a guy," Reilly quipped, as reported by People magazine. "And what it reveals about this guy is that he cannot lose. He has to win and he will do anything to cheat."
Trump's golf prowess even made its way into his hush money trial on May 9.
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During Donald Trump's hush money trial in New York, his golf game became a topic of discussion. As adult film star Stormy Daniels took the stand — prosecutors claim Trump falsified business records after burying a $130,000 hush money payment made to the actress to keep her alleged affair with Trump secret — she was asked about meeting the future POTUS at a Lake Tahoe celebrity golf tournament in 2006.
"He did very well at that golf tournament, right?" Trump's attorney Susan Necheles asked.
"I don't remember," Daniels replied.
"President Trump was the biggest celebrity at that golf tournament, right?" asked his attorney.
"It depends on what you're a fan of," Stormy said.
"A lot of people recognized him, followed him around?" Susan shot back.
"Yeah, a lot of them were paid to follow him around," Stormy said. "I don't know."
After the exchange, some media members said the back-and-forth did little for either side and theorized that the questioning was only done to appease Trump and tout his golf game.
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Sports writer Rick Reilly — who wrote the New York Times bestseller "Commander in Cheat: How Golf Explains Trump" — says he knows Donald Trump cheats at golf "because I played golf with him once and he took seven mulligans."
"He took a 'gimme chip-in.' I've never even heard of a 'gimme chip-in,'" Reilly said during a March appearance on "Deadline: White House."
MORE: The best photos from Donald Trump's windy visit to his Ireland and Scotland golf courses
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According to People magazine, sports writer Rick Reilly said during a March segment on MSNBC's "Deadline: White House" that he's seen Donald Trump win golf tournaments even though he wasn't "in the state when the tournament's played." Trump also won a tournament in North Korea during a time he was talking to the country's leader, Kim Jong Un, Reilly said. According to Reilly, Trump also emerged the victor during a two-day tournament where he wasn't even present on one of the days.
"What he does [is] he just calls in and goes, 'I usually beat that guy, give me the trophy,'" Reilly claimed. "And I know this because when I played with him, he goes, 'You know what I do to win these championships, don't ya?' and I go, 'Please tell me. Give it to me.' And he goes, 'Anytime I buy a new course, I play the first round by myself and then I declare myself the club champion.' So that's what kind of guy this is."
MORE: Trump trolled for hawking $60 Bibles amid mounting legal fees: All the best reactions
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Sports writer Rick Reilly said during a March appearance on "Deadline: White House" that Donald Trump has "never won a championship at a course he doesn't own and operate" — despite claims he's won at least 23 championships.
Curiously, though, Trump has played at courses stricter than those he himself owns — in places like Pebble Beach and Lake Tahoe, "where there are rules and judges and cameras," Reilly noted — "and in those, he's never finished in the top half."
Added Reilly, "Anybody who disagrees that he won is out of the club, that's how he [does it]."
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Cheating in the golf world just isn't something that's generally done, "So Help Me Golf: Why We Love the Game" author Rick Reilly told "Deadline: White House" host Nicolle Wallace during a March appearance on her show.
"I don't know anything about politics, but I know about golf," he said. "I've covered it for about 45 years. It's not a sport where you can cheat. It's just not in the game."
"If you're a hundred yards over here and I'm a hundred yards that way, I trust that you're not gonna foozle it, kick it, throw it. And you trust that I'm not going to. And that's the only way to play," he explained. "Because there's no refs, you can't possibly cover that much territory."
Reilly added that some of Trump's golfing opponents have told him stories about "kicking opponents' balls into the bunkers."
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Rick Reilly, the author of the New York Times bestseller "Commander in Cheat: How Golf Explains Trump," said on "Deadline: White House" in March that ex-president Donald Trump always uses a "turbo-charged golf cart that goes three times as fast" as the carts driven by his competitors.
Why?
So he allegedly has time to move the balls around before his competitors can catch up to him.
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One example of Donald Trump speeding ahead in his "turbo-charged golf cart" to get ahead of other players?
"One time in L.A. he was playing $50 a hole with these three guys. He hits it in the pond. They see the splash. By the time they get there, [the ball's] in the middle of the fairway, and they're like, 'What the f***, Donald,' and then he goes, 'It must have been the tide,'" sports writer Rick Reilly shared during a March appearance on "Deadline: White House."
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Professional golfers including Tiger Woods and Dustin Johnson have admitted to letting Donald Trump cheat against them, according to author Rick Reilly.
Why did they let him? When Reilly asked their reasoning, he said on "Deadline: White House" in March, everyone had the same answer: "I wanted my own story about Trump cheating."
Golf.com excerpted part of Reilly's bestselling book "Commander in Cheat: How Golf Explains Trump" that explains some of the cheating with Woods and Johnson — read it here.
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Trump campaign spokesperson Steven Cheung responded to author Rick Reilly's March segment on MSNBC, in which the sports writer talked about former President Donald Trump's history of cheating at golf, in a statement shared with People magazine: "Rick fantasizes about having a golf game as good as President Trump," Cheung said.
"But instead of putting in the hard work to improve his s***** game, Rick allows his severe case of Trump Derangement Syndrome to completely take over his life," he continued. "He should seek urgent medical care before it's too late."
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President Joe Biden trolled Donald Trump on X on March 24 after the ex-president bragged about winning two "club championship" trophies at one of his own Florida courses, Trump International Golf Club in West Palm Beach, Florida.
"Congratulations, Donald. Quite the accomplishment," Biden wrote alongside a screengrab of Trump's Truth Social Post, which read, "It is my great honor to be at Trump International Golf Club in West Palm Beach tonight, AWARDS NIGHT, to receive THE CLUB CHAMPIONSHIP TROPHY AND THE SENIOR CLUB CHAMPIONSHIP TROPHY. I WON BOTH! A large and golfing talented membership, a GREAT and difficult course, made the play very exciting. The qualifying and match play was amazing. A large and distinguished group will be there tonight. Very exciting, thank you!!!"
Trump is pictured here receiving one of his trophies from retired professional golfer Jack Nicklaus.
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Donald Trump owns 18 golf courses across the globe.
There are 11 in the United States, plus two in Scotland, two in Indonesia and one each in Ireland, Dubai and Oman.
He's seen here playing the third hole at his Trump Turnberry golf resort in Turnberry, Scotland, in 2023.
