President Donald Trump admits that he knows how to cheat at golf—but claims he could never get away with it because Secret Service agents would catch him.
The president’s semi-confession came during a Saturday speech in Ireland, where he is hitting the links this weekend.
“I can’t cheat,” he claimed. “You have 250 Secret Service agents running around. It’s not that I wouldn’t cheat, but you can’t move the ball—I don’t know if they play or not, but they know you’re not supposed to be moving the ball around, OK?”
Trump’s golf game has been dogged by cheating allegations for years, with sports writer Rick Reilly detailing it at length in his 2019 book, Commander in Cheat: How Golf Explains Trump.
Reilly alleges that Trump not only cheats at golf, but “cheats like a three-card monte dealer.”
“He throws it, boots it, and moves it,” Reilly writes. “He lies about his lies. He fudges and foozles and fluffs. At Winged Foot, where Trump is a member, the caddies got so used to seeing him kick his ball back onto the fairway they came up with a nickname for him: ‘Pele.’”
The White House did not respond to a request for comment.
Trump’s remarks came after the 80-year-old posted on Truth Social Saturday morning lamenting his supposed lack of time to golf.
Trump, who has found time in his schedule to golf most weekends and even some weekdays this year, posted a video of himself on the green with the caption: “Such a great golfer. Too bad I have very little time to play!!!”
The president is visiting Ireland for two days and is attending the Irish Open golf tournament at his family’s Doonbeg resort.
