Donald Trump -- Republican presidential nominee and golf cheat?
Donald plunks 2 balls in water, one out bounds and another ball in the bushes before planting his ball in middle of fairway
PUBLISHED : Thursday, 05 May, 2016, 3:28am
UPDATED : Thursday, 05 May, 2016, 3:28am
Associated Press
Of all the things Donald Trump has been called on the campaign trail, this one might sting the most: golf cheat.
Oscar De La Hoya says that’s what he saw on the links when Trump joined up with his group at Trump National Golf Club in Los Angeles two years ago. Trump, he said, cheated not once but twice in the space of two holes.
“Yes, I caught him,” De La Hoya said. “It was unbelievable. But I guess it was his course, so it was his rules.”
De La Hoya said he and his group were teeing off on the first hole when Trump, an avid golfer who owns several courses, asked if he could join them.
“Of course, this is your golf course,” De La Hoya said he told him.
The former boxing champion said Trump hit his first ball into the water, hit a second out of bounds, then a third into the water again. His fourth ball then went into the bushes.
“Donald, what he does is he tees off first so we go off to our balls and what do we see but Donald Trump right in the middle of the fairway,” De La Hoya said. “He said, ‘Hey look, I found my first ball.’”
On the next hole, a par-3, De La Hoya said Trump hit into some bushes and again went ahead of the other players in his cart. When the rest of the group got to the green, he said Trump’s ball was 3 feet from the hole.
“And by the way I’m picking it up,” De La Hoya quoted Trump as saying. “It’s a gimme.”
De La Hoya believes Trump’s behaviour on the golf course is reflective of his true self.
“It shows something about his character,” he said. “Golf is a gentleman’s sport. You don’t lie about your score, you don’t lie about moving your ball. It goes to show what we’re dealing with.”