Trump's Golf Championship Win Has Everyone Saying The Same Thing (It Rhymes With 'Wigged')

The president is enthusiastic about golf to the extent that Donald Trump is developing a cash-grab app where you can play as him on his golf courses. Trump has frequently touted that he's won numerous tournaments, and on March 16, 2025, the divisive politician celebrated his most recent victory at Florida's Trump International Golf Club with a post on Truth Social. However, rather than celebrating with him, social media users pointed out that it wasn't exactly hard fought. "Trump just declared himself the winner of his own golf championship. You know who does this kind of thing? Losers," declared one user on X, formerly known as Twitter. 

Another user took issue with the fact that Trump was focusing all his attention on golf rather than running the country, remarking, "But don't worry! Trump won a rigged golf tournament, so everything is just fine!" They weren't the only one to invoke accusations that Trump cheated either. Another poster referenced Rick Reilly, author of the 2020 tell-all tome, "Commander in Cheat." While speaking to MSNBC in 2024, Reilly detailed Trump's questionable, but unsurprising, reputation on the golf course, pointing out a curious commonality across all of the president's golf victories. 

"He's never won a championship at a course he doesn't own and operate," Reilly declared. In contrast, on courses Trump doesn't own, the author noted that the former "Apprentice" host didn't come close to winning. To make things even more suspicious, Reilly also observed that some of these so-called victories happened even though Trump didn't participate in the entire competition. This bending of the rules has been noticed by others too. In 2023, the Daily Mail reported that after missing one day of play, Trump substituted in a previous golf score to get ahead in the tournament.

Author Rick Reilly has firsthand experience of playing golf with Donald Trump, and he confirmed that the divisive politician was all about taking extra free shots (aka mulligans), something that Today's Golfer editor Kevin Brown also experienced. In addition, Trump moved through the game rather rapidly. Reilly recalled to MSNBC that speed is one of Trump's biggest cheating strategies, asserting that he always gets to the ball first and, unseen by the other players, moves it to a more advantageous position.

Despite Trump's reported disregard of the rules of golf, some people have acknowledged his skills on the green (although notably, his granddaughter, Kai Trump, consistently outshines him on the golf course). Trump played a round with Bryson DeChambeau on YouTube, allowing people to take a closer look at his performance. "It's not the prettiest swing, and his putting stroke resembles that of a man getting electrocuted on the follow through, but he gets through the ball amazingly well for a near 80-year-old," Mark McGowan wrote in Irish Golfer in response. 

Paul Elvin, founder of The London Golf Performance Academy, also watched the video and adjusted Trump's performance for age. "He rotates fantastically well through impact and generates great power in transition," he explained to The Independent. For comedian Joe Zimmerman, however, the president's flagrant disregard for good sportsmanship has more troubling implications for the world stage. "You can get an idea of the way the president manipulates truth by looking at how he talks about golf," Zimmerman cautioned in an article for The New York Times.