Donald Trump claimed victory in the major club championship at West Palm Beach Golf Club on Sunday — even though he was 600 miles away on day one of the tournament at Diamond’s funeral in North Carolina.
Insiders told DailyMail.com that competitors arriving for day two of the competition on Sunday morning were surprised (though not entirely shocked) to see his name at the top of the leaderboard, five points behind the overnight leader.
He apparently told the members that he played a cracking round on Thursday and that would be the result of his first day.
This is not the first time he has bent the rules at one of his clubs. The other competitors simply shrugged and settled to play second place.
While members of the West Palm Beach Golf Club played the first round of the seniors’ tournament Saturday, Donald Trump was at a memorial service for Diamond, one half of Trump’s pro-Trump Diamond & Silk, in Fayetteville, North Carolina
However, he was able to claim victory in the tournament on Sunday night, basing his victory on “hitting the ball long and straight” in what he said was a fitness check.
That wasn’t enough to stop Trump from taking to social media to celebrate his prowess and physique, in what would be seen as a dig at the current resident of the White House.
“He competed against many great golfers, hitting the ball long and straight,” he wrote on Truth Social.
“The reason I’m announcing this on The Cool Truth is because, in a very real way, it acts as a physical test, only more rigorous.
You need strength and stamina to win, and I have the strength and stamina – most others don’t.
“You also need strength and stamina to rule!”
A Trump spokesman did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
On Saturday, as the seniors of his club battled their way through the first 18 holes of the tournament, Trump was in Fayetteville, North Carolina, serving one-half of enthusiastic backing duo Diamond & Silk.
Trump’s Thursday round gave him a score of 40 using the Stableford method – which awards one point for bogey, two for bogey, three for birdie and so on – five points better than Saturday’s best round.
Trump was seen here at Trump International West Palm Beach Golf Course earlier this month
The former president has form when it comes to bending the rules at his own pace.
In his book The Leader in Cheating, writer Rick Riley once wrote a major club championship at his New Jersey club from a distance of 87 miles.
He seems to have forgotten that one of the club’s best players has just reached qualifying age.
“Having no chance of beating the guy,” Riley wrote, “he went to the Trump Philadelphia tournament on the day of the tournament and played with a friend there.”
Then, according to a source within the Bedminster club, he called the Bedminster pro shop and announced that he had shot the 73 and should be declared the winner.
He also described with great interest how Trump’s use of closers — who are supposed to get ahead of the golfer to determine where balls land — coincided with perfectly placed drives and shots coming close to landings.
However, members of the Trump Clubs say Trump is a decent golfer with a fair amount of power.
The golf club, shown here in a preview visit, is a 15-minute drive from his Mar-a-Lago home
And no one is willing to call him out for such antics for fear of losing access to some of the best golf courses in the country.
They often speak with admiration of his generosity to the members and their families.
On Saturday he said he paid for the funeral for Diamond, whose real name is Anitha Lynette Hardaway.
MyPillow founder Mike Lindell and Lara Trump, wife of the former president’s son Eric, also attended the service, which lasted more than three hours.
“The world has lost one of its brightest stars,” Trump said. “We have lost one of the purest of our hearts, that is for sure.”
Trump seemed a bit confused by the size of the memorial.
“I have a lot of people waiting for me again in a place called Palm Beach, Florida,” he said at one point.