Featured Image Credit: Getty
Topics: Golf, Donald Trump
Chris Nee
Donald Trump's caddy is a former US Marine named AJ who doesn't mind getting his hands dirty if he overhears a nasty comment about the 79-year-old.
The President of the United States of America is a former reality television figurehead and terrific golfer who spends a good deal of time on the fairways of Trump golf courses and many others around the world, masterfully gathering frequent accusations of cheating and even admitting that his granddaughter, Kai, can play a bit.
But things have the potential to turn ugly if Trump's caddy catches patrons using naughty words about the leader of the free world.
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AJ offers advice and bag-carrying support at the Trump National Golf Club, where the presidential review of a fellow caddy triggered an incident during the Senior PGA Championship.
According to AJ, caddy Brian Sullivan was 'running his mouth' about Trump despite his unimpeachable golfing credentials.
“Yellin’ about Mr. Trump. He was sayin’ to somebody, ‘Don’t tell me how I have to feel about him! I hate that motherf-----!’” AJ calmly recalled to Politico in 2017, claiming that he put Sullivan in a military chokehold in order to explain his point of view in a mature manner.
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"Now, you listen to me, f-----! You’re not gonna come to Mr. Trump’s course and eat Mr. Trump’s food and then use the word ‘hate’ about my president. I won’t have it, you got me?"
Sullivan's recollection in the same Politico article is rather less dramatic, hardly the first or last suggestion that Trump and his golf entourage are open to a little chicanery.
Cheating allegations have followed Trump's golf career for decades.
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In his 2019 book 'Commander in Cheat', former Sports Illustrated columnist Rick Reilly explained how Trump cheats when he's on the course.
"I’ve always said golf is like bicycle shorts. It reveals a lot about a guy," Reilly told Deadline White House. "And what it reveals about this guy is that he cannot lose. He has to win and he will do anything to cheat.
"And I know because I played golf with him and he took seven mulligans. He took a 'give me chip-in.' I’ve never even heard of a give me chip-in."
Even Hollywood A-lister Samuel L. Jackson claimed that he was a better golfer than Trump because he doesn't cheat, a suggestion that inspired the usual response from Trump when someone claims to have played golf with him and spotted something they shouldn't have: He said he didn't know Jackson and had never played golf with him.