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Trump declares win at Bedminster Club Championship. Is he any good?
President Donald Trump celebrated another golf win over the weekend, the latest in a long line of nearly unbelievable championships.
Trump was honored at Trump National Golf Club Bedminster in New Jersey in a video posted Aug. 2, which shows Trump receiving a trophy for winning the "super senior" and "senior division" after supposedly shooting a 70 (par is 72 at the club's two courses).
Trump, 80, then bragged about his victory on social media, attaching a video.
"The Winning Shot in the Bedminster Club Championship! Thank you very much to all of those who participated. 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. It’s called TALENT, and I have it, and they don’t!"
Trump, who has a reputation as a cheater on the golf course, now says he has won at least 40 club championships.
As Trump was being handed the trophy, one fan could be heard saying on the video, "The president of the United States. The super senior and the senior, he won both. He won both. That's amazing. Best president of my lifetime."
More: Record high strongly disapprove of Donald Trump in new poll
How much has Trump golfed this term? See the trackers
Trump has golfed about 22% of his second presidency, according to estimates by multiple trackers.
Trump hit the greens 124 days in his second term, according to Trump Golf Track run by The Alt Media, which calls itself a "progressive alternative to mainstream news." The website says there were other days on the president's schedule where Trump visited his properties, but his golfing status was unconfirmed. Another website, " Did Trump Golf Today ," calculates his golfing days from his public schedule from Roll Call Factbase , and found he golfed 125 days.
Trump has been accused of cheating in the past
In Trump's long affinity for the sport, he has made a bit of a reputation for himself as a cheater. In fact, sportswriter Rick Reilly wrote a whole book about it in 2019: " Commander in Cheat : How Golf Explains Trump."
"Trump doesn’t just cheat at golf," Reilly wrote. "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.'”
In one instance in 2023, members of Trump International West Palm Beach arrived for the final round of their Senior Club Championship only to find Trump's name at the top of the leaderboard, when he didn't play the first round. But he did play a round earlier that week, claimed he had a good day and decided to use that score for the first round of the Senior Club Championship. He then called it a "great honor" to have won the tournament on social media, adding, "he was hitting the ball long and straight."
Trump has allegedly won at least 40 club championships . Reilly once said the best player at that level he knows had won eight.
Reilly said in the Vox interview Trump told him whenever he opens a new golf course he plays the first club championship by himself and declares himself to be the champion and puts his name on the wall.
"But it’s usually just him and Melania in the cart and nobody else," Reilly said. "He just makes it up."
Trump claims golf victory often, but how good is he?
So how good at golf is Trump? Depends on who you ask. Hall of Famer Ernie Els witnessed a hole-in-one by Trump in 2022 at West Palm Beach. Els was previously asked by the Palm Beach Post to assess Trump's game.
"He can really strike the ball," Els said. "He makes good contact. He's got a good swing. Like any amateur, you got to do the short game practice. I keep talking to him about his chipping. He's a pretty good putter. Back in his day, he had to be a 4- or 5-handicap. Today, he's probably a 10, 12."
Trump said last fall he has a "very low handicap."
Trump has played with the best of the best. Jack Nicklaus, Els, Tiger Woods, Dustin Johnson, Rory McIlroy, Bryson DeChambeau and Brooks Koepka among them.
"President Trump plays pretty well, not bad at all," Nicklaus said in 2020.
Koepka also weighed in:
“I think he's actually a pretty good putter," Koepka said. "He had a lot of good putts today that just didn't go in.”
Trump stopped several times to chat between holes during a Pro-Am at Doral. "Where are the golf writers?" he said at one point. "What do you think? Trump is pretty good, isn't he?"
Later, when he was asked what he thought about his game, Trump said: "I hit it straight, I hit good drives, I hit good irons."
Tom D'Angelo is a senior sports columni s t and reporter for The Palm Beach Post. He can be reached at [email protected].
Kinsey Crowley is the Trump Connect reporter for the USA TODAY Network. Reach her at [email protected]. Follow her on X (Twitter) , Threads , Bluesky and TikTok .
This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: Trump declares win at Bedminster Club Championship. Is he any good?
TrumpBedminster Club ChampionshipPresident Donald TrumpTrump National Golf Club BedminsterNew JerseyAugThe Winning ShotThankI’mIt’sTALENTAs Trump
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