Farmingdale, NY – The last time I spoke with Donald Trump, was on the eve of the PGA championship of 2022 in Southern Hills, between Trump I and Trump II. I played a lot of wave with Trump, all long before he ran to President for the first time, and talking to him is ridiculously simple. I asked him how he played.
“As a scottie,” said the once and future president. Scottie Scheffler, then the reigning Masters champion. They had just played together in Dallas, where Scheffler lives.
I resisted.
The 45th and 47th President of the United States visited the Ryder Cup, in Bethpage Black, 25 miles from Trump’s Childhood Home, a country house in the Jamaica Estates part of Queens. I don’t know if Trump ever played Bethpage Black. He told me about the New-to-Golf Rounds he played in Cobbs Creek, a course in the city in West Philadelphia, of which Trump said he was playing while visiting the Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania for his junior and senior years, after he started at Fordham. Last month, Tiger Woods visited Cobbs Creek, where a huge renovation is underway and where a Tiger Woods Learning Center is located.
Trump has played golf with various members of both the European and the American Ryder Cup-Teams-Bryson Depryson Desceau most likely and his passion for Golf Rent Diep, so it is no surprise that he made this Pep-Talk-on-steroids a visit to Bethpage. His mother was born in Scotland, but there is no doubt that his rooting loyalty is in this 45th Ryder Cup. Who can forget the cheerful hug of President Trump from an American flag during his first term?
Half teasing, I once asked Trump if he could be the first course owner who serves as a host of a US Open, a British open And A ryder cup.
“That’s a very interesting question,” Trump said, all up. He had a field day and we have reviewed this theme every now and then. Try to promote different features, via the pages of Sports illustratedHe would usually say Trump Bedminster for a US Open, Trump DC for a Ryder Cup and Trump Scotland in Aberdeen for a British open. Turnberry then did not have his name and still voted for the building. He loved this kind of playful conversation.
At the US Open 2009 on Bethpage Black I looked with some awe while Trump rode his Rolls Royce to the clubhouse and his vehicle parked there. Nobody stopped him. Nobody said anything. He had wired the place.
The inputs of Bethpage Black were closed when President Trump arrived late in Bethpage Black on Friday morning, this time not by Rolls Royce but via Air Force One and Presidential Motorcade. He talked the American players and their captain and his assistants in the clubhouse and then did more of the same on the first tee as the afternoon session. He was wearing a blazer. When he plays, President Trump always wears pants. He does not believe in playing golf in shorts. Most of his many play partners over the years bear shorts, as a respect for him as president of the United States or owner of the course they play. Tennis, yes. When Decchambeau played the first tee on Friday afternoon, President Trump was alone, hands by his side, carefully looking and not saying a word. For a moment there was the stage of Dechambeau, who hung with Eric Trump after winning the 2020 US Open on Winged Foot, where Donald Trump is a long member. When Deschambeau played with Trump as part of his 50 YouTube series breakWhen Trump sought his second term, the Texaan played in Shorts via California. Trump drove the cart. The task of Dechambeau was the par-4 greens, or try to try it anyway.
President Trump’s work on Friday afternoon, in the scary context of this international golf competition, was to give the home team a small spark after polluting the morning session. The Americans followed the Europeans, 3-1, during lunch, a term used here loosely. Justin Rose, the Englishman who won the US Open 2013, ate his lunch while he walked to the first tee for his afternoon session, where President Trump served as a tournament peter, in a way of speaking. The first tee is the stage of the players. The 47th President of the United States was just another fan. Well, not really, but you get the idea.
Michael Bamberger welcomes your comments on michael.bamberger@golf.com.
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