FARMINGDALE, N.Y. — The last time I spoke to Donald Trump was on the eve of the 2022 PGA Championship at Southern Hills, between Trump I and Trump II. I have played a lot of golf with Trump, all of it long before he ran for president the first time, and talking golf with him is ridiculously easy. I asked him how he was playing.
“As Scottie,” the once and future president said. 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 on Friday, at Bethpage Black, 25 miles from Trump’s childhood home, a mansion in the Jamaica Estates section of Queens. I don’t know if Trump ever played Bethpage Black. He has told me about the new-to-golf rounds he played at Cobbs Creek, a city-owned course in West Philadelphia, which Trump said he played while attending the Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania for his junior and senior years, after starting at Fordham. Last month, Tiger Woods paid a visit to Cobbs Creek, where a massive renovation is underway and where a Tiger Woods Learning Center has been established.
Trump has played golf with various members of both the European and American Ryder Cup teams — Bryson DeChambeau most notably — and his passion for golf runs deep, so it’s no surprise he made this pep-talk-on-steroids visit to Bethpage. His mother was born in Scotland but there’s no question where his rooting loyalty lies in this 45th Ryder Cup. Who can forget President Trump’s gleeful hug of an American flag during his first term?
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Half-teasing, I once asked Trump if he could be the first course-owner to serve as host of a U.S. Open, a British Open and a Ryder Cup.
“That is a very interesting question,” Trump said, all teed up. He had a field day with it and we revisited this theme now and again. Trying to promote different properties, through the pages of Sports Illustrated, he would typically say Trump Bedminster for a U.S. Open, Trump D.C. for a Ryder Cup and Trump Scotland in Aberdeen for a British Open. Turnberry did not then have his name and stamp on the property yet. He loved this kind of playful conversation.
At the 2009 U.S. Open at Bethpage Black, I watched with some awe as Trump drove his Rolls Royce right up to the clubhouse and parked his vehicle there. Nobody stopped him. Nobody said a thing. He had the place wired.
The entrances to Bethpage Black were shut down when President Trump arrived at Bethpage Black late Friday morning, this time not by Rolls Royce but via Air Force One and presidential motorcade. He chatted up the American players and their captain and his assistants in the clubhouse, then did more of the same on the first tee as the afternoon session began. He was wearing a blazer. When he plays, President Trump always wears trousers. He does not believe in playing golf in shorts. Most of his many playing partners through the years wear shorts, in deference to him as either president of the United States or owner of the course they are playing. Tennis, yes. When DeChambeau played off the first tee Friday afternoon, President Trump stood alone, hands on his side, watching carefully, not saying a word. For a moment there, the stage belonged to DeChambeau, who hung out with Eric Trump after winning the 2020 U.S. Open at Winged Foot, where Donald Trump is a longtime member. When DeChambeau played with Trump as part of his Breaking 50 YouTube series, when Trump was seeking his second term, the Texan, by way of California, played in shorts. Trump drove the cart. DeChambeau’s job was drive the par-4 greens, or try to, anyway.
President Trump’s job on Friday afternoon, in the narrow context of this international golf competition, was to give the home team a wee spark after fouling up the morning session. The Americans trailed the Europeans, 3-1, at lunchtime, a term being used loosely here. Justin Rose, the Englishman who won the 2013 U.S. Open, ate his lunch while walking to the first tee for his afternoon session, where President Trump served as tournament greeter, in a manner of speaking. The first tee is the players’ stage. The 47th president of the United States was just another fan. Well, not really, but you get the idea.
Michael Bamberger welcomes your comments at Michael.Bamberger@Golf.com.
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