Donald Trump 'called golf club to demand championship' after controversial win
Donald Trump 'called golf club to demand championship' after controversial win
Sahil Kurup Mon, August 3, 2026 at 1:10 PM UTC
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Donald Trump's conduct has been questioned (Image: Christopher Furlong, Getty Images)
As President Donald Trump's golfing activities continue attracting attention during his second term, with taxpayer-funded costs associated with his course visits reportedly surpassing $100 million by early 2026, sportswriter Rick Reilly's longstanding accusations regarding Trump's allegedly falsified club championship wins remain among the most comprehensive public assertions made about his connection to the sport.
This follows reports that Trump recently shot 70 and secured another senior and club championship. In a 2019 excerpt from his book "Commander in Cheat: How Golf Explains Trump," Reilly outlined numerous allegations from individuals at Trump's own clubs describing how the president obtained championship titles without genuinely earning them.
Among the accusations: an insider at Trump's Bedminster, New Jersey club informed Reilly that Trump had advocated for the club to establish a senior championship division for golfers 50 and older, only to withdraw from competition once he discovered one of the club's top players had just reached 50. His conduct was also slammed after losing to 15-year-old in golf tournament
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According to the source, Trump instead played a round at his separate Trump Philadelphia course that day and subsequently contacted the Bedminster pro shop claiming he'd shot a 73, leading the club to declare him the winner.
A caddie who worked Trump's actual round in Philadelphia that day allegedly informed others his genuine score was closer to 82. Reilly also documented another episode in which several sources recalled Trump entering the Bedminster clubhouse as a staff member was installing a plaque honoring that year's actual senior championship victor.
US President Donald Trump is an avid golfer (Image: Getty Images)
Trump, who had not participated in the competition, reportedly instructed the employee, "Hey, I beat that guy all the time. Put my name up there instead."
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These accounts formed part of a wider inquiry in which Reilly scrutinized Trump's public assertion of having secured 18 club championships during his lifetime, a number featured in Golf Digest.
Reilly's investigation revealed that 12 of those victories were actually in senior or "super senior" categories rather than open tournaments, and that multiple others, including an alleged 1999 triumph at Trump International in West Palm Beach, took place before the respective courses had formally opened.
Reilly also chronicled a 2007 defeat at the Westchester Men's Club Championship, where Trump lost to then-15 year old Adam Levin after invoking rules violations against the young player late in their contest.
Rick Reilly claimed the US president made the demand to an employee at Trump National Golf Club in Bedminster (Image: Getty Images)
The claims have resurfaced intermittently in subsequent years, especially as Trump's golf-related expenditures during his presidency have attracted fresh scrutiny. Based on HuffPost's analysis, Trump made 88 visits to his personal golf properties in 2025 alone, with taxpayer-related expenses exceeding $100 million by the conclusion of March 2026.
Independent monitoring from the Trump Golf Tracker calculated total taxpayer expenditures surpassing $110 million by year-end 2025.
Trump and his spokespeople did not provide any particular response to Reilly's initial Bedminster claims when they were published in 2019, and the White House has remained silent on the allegations in subsequent years.
Trump also misled wife Melania after she questioned him about his golf outings.
Source: “AOL Sports”
