Donald Trump: Golf world starts to turn on this cheater in sport and democracy – Scotsman comment

In 2018, golfer Suzann Pettersen revealed something telling about Donald Trump. A regular partner of the US President, she said he “cheats like hell”.

Donald Trump plays a round of golf at the Trump International Golf Links in Aberdeenshire (Picture: Andy Buchanan/AFP/Getty)

The 15-time LPGA tour winner added: “In all the times I’ve played him, he’s never come close to breaking 80, but what’s strange is that every time I talk to him he says he just golfed a 69 or that he set a new course record.”

There are some who view a person’s actions on the fairway and green as a profound indication of the content of their character. And, given Trump’s disgraceful attempts to cheat at democracy, they may be right.

But golf certainly matters to Trump. Before he was elected, he repeatedly criticised Barack Obama for playing it and said he would not do so if he became president. However, such is his love of the sport, this was a pledge he was unable to keep.

In May last year, Mark Knoller, a veteran CBS News White House correspondent who tracks presidential activities, told CNN that Trump had spent all or part of 248 days at a golf course during his term of office, compared to the 98 rounds of golf played by Obama over the same period of his term.

So the decision by the PGA of America to terminate a contract to host the 2022 championship at Trump National Bedminster and the Royal & Ancient club’s announcement that the Open will not be held at Trump Turnberry “in the foreseeable future” will hurt.

We only hope that being shunned by the golf world brings him to his senses, if any remain.

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