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Jack Nicklaus reveals surprising similarity to Trump’s golf game: ‘He plays a little bit like I do’

September 5, 2019

President Trump has played rounds of golf with the who’s-who of A-Listers while in office, including the man with the most major championships ever, Jack Nicklaus. Back in June, Nicklaus appeared on Bloomberg’s “The David Rubenstein Show: Peer-to-Peer Conversations,” where host Rubenstein asked the Golden Bear to talk about his experience playing with former U.S. Presidents. In a newly-released clip that appeared on Bloomberg’s website on Thursday Nicklaus revealed a surprising similarity between Trump’s game and his own.

“I’ve played with a few,” Nicklaus responds, when Rubenstein leads with a question about the number of presidents Nicklaus has played with.

“And which one’s the best?” Rubenstein asks.

“Well, the ones I’ve played with, actually Trump is probably the best player,” Nicklaus says. “Trump plays pretty well. He plays a little bit like I do. He doesn’t really ever finish many holes. But he can hit the ball, and he goes out and plays and just enjoys it. But he’s won several club championships. He can play.”

Nicklaus then went on to describe his experience playing with Presidents Gerald Ford and Bill Clinton.

“Gerald Ford, I must have played 50 rounds with Ford. I used to play with him at the AT&T [Pebble Beach Pro-Am] every year,” he said. “And Ford was a 13 handicap, but he played to a 13 handicap. Clinton, I never knew what Clinton might do. He might play to a 10 or he might play to a 30. But he had a nice golf swing. All these guys enjoyed playing golf. I don’t think any one of them really were very serious about the game. But they all enjoyed playing, and it’s good for the game of golf to have the president of the United States say, you know, this is my game.”

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