[ad_1]
It was a surreal detour throughout a presidential debate already full of peculiar exchanges and meandering remarks. On Thursday evening, after squabbles concerning the economic system, abortion and the Jan. 6, 2021, Capitol riot, President Biden and former President Donald J. Trump tussled over … golf.
“I simply gained two membership championships — not even senior, two common membership championships,” Mr. Trump boasted as he answered a query tied to how he could be 82 years outdated on the finish of a second presidential time period. “To do this, it’s a must to be fairly good, and you’ve got to have the ability to hit the ball a good distance. And I do it. He doesn’t do it. He can’t hit a ball 50 yards.”
Mr. Biden, 81, declared that he could be “completely happy to have a driving contest” with Mr. Trump.
“I acquired my handicap, after I was vp, right down to a six,” the president stated, referring to a system by which golfers evaluate their talents. The decrease the quantity, the higher the participant.
“And by the way in which, I instructed you earlier than, I’m completely happy to play golf in the event you carry your individual bag,” Mr. Biden continued, addressing Mr. Trump. “Suppose you are able to do it?”
Mr. Trump, 78, routinely makes use of a cart. He didn’t reply to that individual problem, however scoffed, “That’s the most important lie — that he’s a six-handicap — of all.”
Maybe it was unsurprising that golf — a cherished ritual for a lot of presidents, however particularly Mr. Trump — would floor throughout the debate. However the bickering was additionally broadly panned as an unserious train between two ageing males making an attempt vainly to outdo each other.
Few presidents have been as carefully related to the sport as Mr. Trump. His household firm controls an enviable portfolio of programs, a incontrovertible fact that he typically crows about when he performs occasions tied to the Saudi-backed LIV Golf collection that has hosted tournaments at Trump properties. (He has been a lot much less keen to speak about how some in skilled golf have shunned him lately, significantly after the Jan. 6 riot.)
Mr. Trump has lengthy reveled in taking part in with main event winners like Jack Nicklaus and Tiger Woods and speaking up his personal prowess even on days when he didn’t precisely adhere to the sport’s guidelines or courtesies.
“Not unhealthy, proper?” Mr. Trump requested me at his course in Doral, Fla., in 2022. “Like, proper round that degree of, you realize what? Fairly good. Anyway, let me end off this victory.”
Lengthy earlier than Thursday’s debate, regardless of his personal document of twisting golf’s guidelines to his whims, he was eyeing and doubting Mr. Biden’s golf expertise.
“Can Biden try this?” Mr. Trump muttered to me after he performed a shot on his course in Bedminster, N.J. “He says he’s a six-handicap. He’s not a six-handicap.”
Mr. Biden has performed for years however has currently hit programs extra sparingly than his predecessor and has typically adopted a extra humble posture. (“The course document continues to be intact,” he instructed reporters after his first spherical as president.)
For what it’s value, U.S. Golf Affiliation data, which usually depend on self-reported scores, present Mr. Biden’s handicap as 6.7 in 2018 and Mr. Trump’s as 2.5 in 2021.
[ad_2]
Source link
