The United States Golfing Association (USGA) is looking into a reported hack of their golfing databases. As Golfweek reported on Saturday, the USGA has a record of golfers’ scores and handicaps across the country, both professional and amateur. What made this recent cyber crime newsworthy was the fact that one well-known golf enthusiast’s account with the USGA began posting “suspiciously unflattering” scores. Donald Trump’s interest in golfing seems to only be rivaled by his interest in deluding himself and the world around him that he’s a truly gifted golfer.
Golfweek exclusively confirmed that the courses used in the fake scores were Trump National New York (100 and 101), Trump International in West Palm Beach (108), and the Cochise Course at Desert Mountain in Scottsdale, Arizona.
As Golfweek points out, Trump himself has had a 2.8 handicap “that is widely regarded as excessively flattering.” However, since becoming president, Trump’s scores have not appeared on the—GHIN with one exception, which is also believed to be suspicious as it was a very low score, well below the course’s average. According to NPR, according to Trump’s own imagination, his scores have always been in the 70s and 80s, though many people question the veracity of those scores too, but for different reasons.
Reports have filtered out over the past couple of years about Trump’s predilection to cheat while playing golf. One thing that Donald Trump’s interest in his own golf courses has done for him is generate hundreds of thousands of dollars in debts that the American taxpayer must shell out for secret service golf cart rentals, and hours and hours of tee time. And while it is not clear whether or not Donald Trump works more than 20 minutes a day at being president, he has had a golf simulator installed in the White House in order to take abundant “executive time.” Of course, knowing the pettiness of this president, we might see Attorney General William Barr asked to shift all enforcement resources to discovering who posted these terrible (possible) truths.