Featured Image Credit: TIMOTHY A. CLARY/AFP via Getty Images
Topics: Sport, Donald Trump, Celebrity, Politics
Chloe Jackson
Topics: Sport, Donald Trump, Celebrity, Politics
When he's not slapping tariffs on every country or deporting people to one of the world's worst prisons, President Trump is partial to a game or two of golf - but there's a rumour that's been following him for years about his sportsmanship.
Just this week, the POTUS has been deepening global tensions by unveiling his 'Liberation Day' slew of tariffs, which he promised would mark a 'golden age' for America. But while he's been getting busy with his crackdown on trade, slashing federal jobs, clamping down on immigration and threatening to exploit a so-called 'loophole' to run for a third term, Trump has also found the time to play a round or two of golf.
Trump is an infamously keen golfer, owning a staggering 12 Trump Golf properties in the US alone, along with two in Scotland, one in Ireland and one in the United Arab Emirates (UAE).
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His penchant for golf is said to be costing US taxpayers a pretty penny too, with figures from a Government Accountability Office report published in 2019 alleging his golf trips could have cost American taxpayers more than $18 million.
The eye-watering bill is thought to have been incurred through travel using an Air Force One jet, patrolling law enforcement and explosive-sniffing dogs.
But the president - who previously described the sport as a ‘passion’ rather than a game - has been facing accusations of unsportsmanlike behaviour from actor Samuel L Jackson, and it turns out this isn't the first time he's been tailgated by the golfing rumours either.
Speaking back in 2016, Jackson said that while the pair weren't pals, they had played golf together, but it seems the actor doesn't have fond memories of hitting the course with the president as he accused him of cheating.
In an interview with Rhapsody magazine at the time, the Hollywood star was asked who was better at golf, to which he brutally replied: "Oh, I am, for sure. I don't cheat."
Of course, Trump wasn't going to let this slide and fired back on Twitter at the time claiming he's 'not a fan' of Jackson and doesn't recall ever playing golf with him.
But this isn't the first time Trump has been accused of cheating while playing golf as actor Anthony Anderson also claimed he'd seen him cheat 'several times'.
During an appearance on Late Night With Seth Meyers in 2016, Anderson claimed: "I mis-hit a ball - it hooked a little left about 20 yards. Trump hit the exact same shot but went 20 yards further left than mine.
"I could not find my ball in this trash. Trump's ball had the fluffiest lie in the middle of the fairway.
"Like I say, I didn't see Trump cheat because he was on the tee-box with me, but his ball was right there in the middle of the fairway."
Meanwhile, in 2019 sports journalist Rick Reilly claimed Trump was taking credit for other players' shots, had another go at a shot for no reason and would even kick the ball to the position he wanted.
"Trump doesn't just cheat at golf. He cheats like a three-card monte dealer. He throws it, boots it and moves it," he raged in an article for The Times.
Well, given the fact that Tiger Woods is now in a relationship with his son’s ex-wife Vanessa Trump, maybe it's the perfect time to get in some golfing tips to avoid any, err, rumours surfacing again.