President Donald Trump on Sunday declared himself the winner of yet another golf tournament held at a facility he owns while also mocking the other participants.
“I won with a score of 70, and am so honored in that, unlike the rest of the field, I’m given very little time to practice, because I’m focused on many other things,” Trump boasted on his Truth Social website. “It’s called TALENT, and I have it, and they don’t!”
Critics were quick to point out it might be more than “TALENT” at work. Trump has been dogged by allegations of cheating at golf for decades, with many of the accusations coming from those who’ve played with him. Those allegations include a viral video last year that showed what some observers said looked a lot like cheating.
Trump also has a history of winning at courses he owns, and rarely plays elsewhere. When he does, the results look more like they did at a 2006 celebrity tournament in Tahoe, where Trump finished in 62nd place out of 80 people.
Even the late Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-S.C.), a longtime ally and frequent golf partner before his death last month, seemed to admit when speaking under oath in a 2022 deposition that Trump cheats at golf.
“Some people say you may outdrive him, but you’re not going to outdrive his caddy,” Graham said. “It is what it is.”
That was likely a reference to a tactic others have accused Trump of using: he has a much faster golf cart than everyone else.
AP/Manuel Balce Ceneta, File
Sports writer Rick Reilly, who authored an entire book on how the president cheats, said Trump then moves his ball to better spots and kicks his opponents’ balls into the bunker.
“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,” Reilly said in 2024. “By the time they get there, it’s in the middle of the fairway, and they’re like, ‘What the F, Donald?’ And he goes, ‘It must’ve been the tide.’”
Reilly told The Associated Press in 2019 that there were “dozens and dozens of people” who could verify that Trump cheats.
Critics put the president on blast over his latest boast: