Biden and Trump bicker over golf – but who is better?
Donald Trump and Joe Biden argued about golf during Thursday’s presidential debate as the event descended into boasting and bickering.
The squabble broke out as the candidates, who have a combined age of 159, were asked by moderators how they would address voters’ concerns about their fitness to serve out a full term as president.
Trump, 78, launched into a long answer about his physical and mental capabilities, claiming to have recently won two golf club championships.
“We’re knocking on wood wherever we may have wood that I’m in very good health,” he said.
“I think I’m in very good shape, I feel that I’m in as good a shape as I was 25, 30 years ago. Actually I’m probably a little bit lighter.”
Both of Trump’s wins took place three months ago at the golf club he owns in West Palm Beach, Florida.
Trump was apparently 600 miles away for one of his “victories”, but bumped his name up to the top of the leader board because of an impressive round he had played three days earlier, the Daily Mail reported.
Photographs from the club’s awards night shows the former president beaming as he is presented with a “most improved player” award by golfing legend Jack Nicklaus.
Trump, who claims to have a handicap roughly half of that of a professional golfer, said Mr Biden had failed to answer his challenge to a round of golf and “can’t hit a ball 50 yards”.
Mr Biden fired back, telling him: “I’d be happy to have a driving contest. I got my handicap when I was vice-president down to a six.
“By the way, I told you before, I’m happy to play golf with you if you carry your own bag. Think you can do it?”
“That’s the biggest lie – that he’s a six handicap – of all,” Trump answered, prompting more bickering to break out as moderators tried to intervene.
“I’ve seen your swing. I know your swing,” he said eventually, adding: “Let’s not act like children.”
“You are a child,” the 81-year-old president retorted.
Trump has previously claimed a handicap of 2.5, which he reported in June 2021.
Neither man’s score has been independently verified, and both are rumoured to have exaggerated their golfing ability.
Trump has reportedly enlisted secret service agents and caddies to lie about his handicap – a phenomenon known as the “Trump Bump”.
In posts on his social media platform, Truth Social, Trump posted two videos of his golf swing following the debate.
Rick Reilly, an American sportswriter, devoted a 257-page book to the former president’s unscrupulous attitude to golf, titled “Commander in Cheat”.
Mr Biden is also a keen golfer and has reported a handicap of 6.7. When he mulled a White House bid in 2015, Golf Digest reported that he could rival John F. Kennedy as “the best golfing president in history”.
John Kasich, the former Republican governor of Ohio, suggested that the Democrat had exaggerated his handicap.
“Joe Biden told me that he was a good golfer, and I’ve played golf with Joe Biden,” Mr Kasich said at the Republican National Convention in 2012.
“I can tell you that’s not true, as well as all of the other things that he says.”
In August 2023, Golf Digest, relying on reported handicaps, ranked Trump as the 11th-best golfer in Washington, but noted he had only posted one score in the last seven years.
Mr Biden, whose handicap has slipped to 10 since his time as vice-president, came in at number 59.
Bryson Dechambeau, the winner of the 2024 US Open, offered to host a match between the two presidential candidates.
