Jack Nicklaus Warns: “If we want to…not evolve into a socialist America and have the government run your life, then I strongly recommend you consider Donald J. Trump for another 4 years.”

Jack Nicklaus has endorsed Donald Trump again for President of the United States and four years later, is issuing a stern warning about the upcoming election and urging folks to vote for his candidate.

Offhand, I’m not sure that I recall a famous golfer wading this deep into ideology since the threat of world war.

The full post is pasted below just in case someone wakes up in the morning and reads the responses, but in the meantime here are the Twitter and Instagram versions.

Mask Advocate John Daly Rebuffs Presidential Debate Mask Mandate

Never one to be entirely consistent, former PGA and Open Champion John Daly took in the 2020 Presidential debate as a guest of Donald Trump. Along with buddy Kid Rock, the pair had to be asked to pull up masks, as mandated by the debate commission, Des Bieler reports.

Not long after the two settled into their seats at Belmont University’s Curb Event Center, they were reportedly asked to put on masks. Daly and Kid Rock complied, but to judge from a number of photos taken of them, they weren’t always assiduous in keeping them pulled up.

Daly, diabetic and battling bladder cancer, was a mask advocate in April and withdrew from the PGA Championship over California’s COVID-19 infection rate.

His post last night from the debate:

View this post on Instagram

Beyond blessed to watch one of best @realdonaldtrump #Trump at #PresidentialDebate2020 #Debates2020 with my boy @kidrock TRUMP MTHA FUCKAS 🚂🇺🇸🇺🇸🇺🇸🇺🇸

A post shared by pga_johndaly (@pga_johndaly) on Oct 22, 2020 at 5:51pm PDT

Eric Trump Predicts Family Properties Will "Do A Million Tournaments" When His Dad "Gets Out Of Politics"

In a MorningRead.com exclusive, Bradley Klein catches up with Eric Trump, overseer of Trump Golf properties, who says the “golf business has never been better” for the company and predicts their best year ever. Though it may not look that way on tax returns that reportedly show huge losses.

“The portfolio isn’t losing money,” said Trump, referring to the firm’s golf holdings. “You can make an operating profit, and that’s not the same as a tax loss based on depreciation, on legitimate write-offs on a schedule. That’s how real estate works.”

Klein focuses on the loss of tournaments from Trump branded properties, with only the 2022 PGA currently scheduled at Trump Bedminster. This, after Trump properties hosted 30 significant events across multiple tours from 2001 to 2017.

In typically upbeat tones, Eric Trump said he anticipates getting back to holding major events beyond the 2022 PGA, though he did not assign a time frame to the goal.

“When he gets out of politics,” Trump said of his father, “we’ll do a million tournaments.”

"Since 2000, Mr. Trump has reported losses of $315. 6 million at the golf courses that are his prized possessions."

The New York Times’ Russ Buettner, Susanne Craig and Mike McIntire report on two decades of President Donald Trump’s income tax returns showing he’s paid no income taxes in 10 of the last 15 years.

Trump’s investment in golf plays a central role in revealing “struggling properties, vast write-offs, an audit battle and hundreds of millions in debt coming due.”

When “The Apprentice” premiered, Mr. Trump had opened only two golf courses and was renovating two more. By the end of 2015, he had 15 courses and was transforming the Old Post Office building in Washington into a Trump International Hotel. But rather than making him wealthier, the tax records reveal as never before, each new acquisition only fed the downward draft on his bottom line.

Consider the results at his largest golf resort, Trump National Doral, near Miami. Mr. Trump bought the resort for $150 million in 2012; through 2018, his losses have totaled $162.3 million. He has pumped $213 million of fresh cash into Doral, tax records show, and has a $125 million mortgage balance coming due in three years.

Overseas, the losses at Doonbeg, Aberdeen and Turnberry have been reported in annual corporate filings required-by-law.

His three courses in Europe — two in Scotland and one in Ireland — have reported a combined $63.6 million in losses.

This could explain the urgency to see Turnberry return to the Open rota. A near-term prospect that seems more in question than ever given the financials.

And the grand total?

Over all, since 2000, Mr. Trump has reported losses of $315. 6 million at the golf courses that are his prized possessions.

There was also this conflict of interest situation noted in the Times reporting.

At the Mar-a-Lago club in Palm Beach, Fla., a flood of new members starting in 2015 allowed him to pocket an additional $5 million a year from the business. At his Doral golf resort near Miami, the roofing materials manufacturer GAF spent at least $1.5 million in 2018 even as its industry was lobbying the Trump administration to roll back “egregious” federal regulations.

Milbank: “President Trump is not playing enough golf”

Washington Post columnist Dana Milbank thinks President Donald Trump could use more time on the golf course to apply the game’s values to the COVID-19 fight.

Above all, though, golf is a game of honor. If you hook your tee shot into the woods, you look for the ball for five minutes, then assess yourself a penalty stroke if you can’t find it. That may be the hardest lesson of all for Trump. According to those who have played with him, Trump doesn’t take a penalty stroke; he simply gives himself a “mulligan” — a free do-over. It lowers his score, but it’s cheating.

Maybe that’s why he has such trouble with the pandemic. He can get away with cheating on the golf course. But covid-19, as we have seen, does not allow mulligans.

Hey at least for a change a prominent columnist sees golf as a plus!

Trump: Never Spoke To Ambassador About Helping Turnberry Get The Open

Trump Turnberry

Peter Baker reports on the Presidential COVID-19 briefing that also included a question about yesterday’s New York Times story regarding Trump Turnberry, The Open and Ambassador Woody Johnson.

“No, I never spoke to Woody Johnson about that, about Turnberry,” Mr. Trump said. “Turnberry’s a highly respected course, as you know, one of the best in the world. I read a story about it today, and I never spoke to Woody Johnson about doing that, no.”

Johnson took to Twitter to fend off allegations from another story, but it’s not clear if he was referring to Trump Turnberry here:

I have followed the ethical rules and requirements of my office at all times. These false claims of insensitive remarks about race and gender are totally inconsistent with my longstanding record and values.

— Ambassador Johnson (@USAmbUK) July 22, 2020

NY Times: Trump Instructed U.S. Ambassador To U.K. To Bring The Open To Turnberry

The New York Times’ Mark Lander, Lara Jakes and Maggie Haberman report that President Donald Trump asked his appointed U.S. Ambassador to the United Kingdom to help steer The Open Championship back to Trump Turnberry Resort.

The course last hosted The Open in 2009 as Turnberry resort, and was purchased in 2014 by Trump, subsequently renovated, impressively upgraded (my review here for GolfDigest.com), and has since not returned to The Open rota.

According to the reporting, American ambassador and New York Jets owner Robert Wood Johnson IV, was advised against any attempt at intervening by his deputy, Lewis Lukens, who later was removed from his position.

Whether the idea ever got to the R&A, hosts of The Open, is unclear. However, according to the report…

But Mr. Johnson apparently felt pressured to try. A few weeks later, he raised the idea of Turnberry playing host to the Open with the secretary of state for Scotland, David Mundell.

In a brief interview last week, Mr. Mundell said it was “inappropriate” for him to discuss his dealings with Mr. Johnson and referred to a British government statement that said Mr. Johnson “made no request of Mr. Mundell regarding the British Open or any other sporting event.”

The White House has declined to comment on President Trump’s instructions to Johnson.

The Times story probes whether the request would have been a violation of the “emoluments” clause and the importance of securing professional tournaments at Trump properties to the bottom line.

As recently as February, R&A chief executive Martin Slumbers said Turnberry remained in the rota even as courses in the vicinity (aka Troon) will have hosted two Opens since Turnberry last did. Slumbers cited something about crowd size. No one is really buying it.

Just over a week ago, Scotland on Sunday’s Martyn McLaughlin reported that the Trump organization is working on plans to significantly develop acreage adjacent to Turnberry.

Trump Before His 266th Round: "Obama played more and much longer"

Look, don’t bother to send me your hate mail, all for pointing out that the President is lying about the frequency of his golf habit and just consider how this can’t be a good look for the sport. 266 (at least) to 98 days on the links, for those who like numbers.

As golfers, I think (hope) we’re all in agreement that it’s wonderful any President of the United States loves the sport and uses his (maybe hers someday) days off to whap it around the links.

Why President Trump has to justify his habit by lying about his predecessor’s frequency of play after bashing President Obama for the same habit, when it’s all documented, will never be clear. But ultimately it’s a poor reflection on the sport that such fudging of the truth is the embodiment of the nation’s most famous golfer.

Then again, there’s this thread of posts by Adam Davidson on Trump International Aberdeen. Yowsers (and thanks reader Don).

Anyway, the Presidential Tweet followed by several others justifying his golf, with ensuing posts belittling his predecessor:

I know many in business and politics that work out endlessly, in some cases to a point of exhaustion. It is their number one passion in life, but nobody complains. My “exercise” is playing, almost never during the week, a quick round of golf. Obama played more and much longer....

— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) July 12, 2020

Trump On Driving Relief Telecast: Normal Return Means Big Crowds, No Masks At Golf Tournaments

Doug Ferguson reports on President Donald Trump’s 10-minute phone appearance during the COVID-19 relief event at Seminole that started with his views on China and some other odd moments.

From a golf perspective, Trump addressed what he sees as a return as part of his push to reopen the American economy.

“After that, hopefully, it will be back,” Trump said in his interview with NBC host Mike Tirico. “We really want to see it back to normal so when we have all these thousands, tens of thousands of people going to your majors and going to golf tournaments, we want them to be having that same experience. We don’t want them having to wear masks and be doing what we’ve been doing for the last number of months. Because that’s not getting back to normal.”

Will Gray also noted the President’s comments about slightly reduced numbers of fans at the Masters.

The appearance appeared to lose a lot of viewers based on the post-Trump slowdown in social activity.

As Jay Rigdon notes for Awful Announcing, with the appearance on top of a predictably painful Bill Murray segment on top of Trump’s chat, the combination stunted any momentum for the broadcast.

There was also some over-interpretation of Mike Tirico’s “kick-in” putt comment—I’m sensed some had not heard that phrase, a “tap in” alternative—rounded up here by Yahoo’s Jason Owens.

PGA Championship Pencils In Early August Date Just As California Governor Suggests September Sports Unlikely

The San Francisco Chronicle’s Ron Kroichick and Scott Ostler report that the PGA of America has settled on the first week of August for its postponed PGA Championship. For now.

This early August date may conflict with President Donald Trump’s projection of “August or September” for a return to fans watching live sports in person nationwide. His comment was made on a conference call of sports executives joined by the PGA Tour’s Jay Monahan and the LPGA Tour’s Mike Whan. (Their tours are currently scheduled to return in May or mid-June and June, respectively.)

California Governor Gavin Newsom’s responded to the president’s timeline by saying it was an optimistic goal for gatherings of large sports. From Helene Elliott’s LA Times column on when sports might return:

“I’m not anticipating that happening in this state,” he said, pointing to the return of COVID-19 in Asia after it was believed the worst was over. “We have to be careful not to overpromise. I’m not here to second-guess anybody, but I am here to say this: Our decision on that basis, at least here in the state of California, will be determined by the facts, will be determined by the health experts, will be determined by the capacity to meet this moment, bend the curve and have the appropriate community surveillance and testing to confidently determine whether or not that’s appropriate. ... That’s not something I anticipate happening in the next few months.”

The NFL’s chief medical officer also said over the weekend that widespread testing is essential to sports returning.

The Senior PGA Championship, set for May 21-24 in Michigan, was cancelled this week by the PGA of America.

And all of the schedule talk remains insignificant as the United States faces the fourth day in a row of over 1000 deaths caused by COVID-19, with an unprecedented week ahead. This from Elliott’s column seems an appropriate response to any scheduling concerns:

Dr. Alan Drummond of the Canadian Association of Emergency Room Physicians was blunt when asked by TSN.ca about the resumption of play in the NHL and other leagues. “Nobody gives [an expletive] right now. Better to turn hockey rinks into makeshift hospitals or morgues,” he said. “I love sports as much as anyone but this is really not the time.”

NY Times On Seth Waugh Not Wanting To Give Donald Trump Deutsche Bank Loans

David Enrich files a lengthy New York Times look at President Donald Trump’s relationship with Deutsche Bank and two of his key efforts at funding golf projects: Turnberry and Doral.

Former CEO and current PGA of America president Seth Waugh comes up as a key player who consistently opposed lending the Trump organization for projects after having been burned during his time at Merrill Lynch.

In 2000, Waugh joined ­Deutsche Bank. Perma-­tanned and with long, floppy hair, Waugh developed a reputation among some ­Deutsche Bank colleagues for being a bit of a lightweight. They derided him for spending more time on the golf course than he did in the office. (Today Waugh is the chief executive of the Professional Golfers’ Association of America.) But he enjoyed the confidence of one of ­Deutsche Bank’s highest-­ranking executives, Josef Ackermann, who helped recruit him from Merrill Lynch. In 2001, Waugh learned that ­Deutsche Bank was planning to lend Trump about $500 million to use as he wished — basically an unrestricted cash infusion to stabilize his flagging finances. Having witnessed up close the carnage that Trump could inflict on imprudent financial institutions, Waugh was in no hurry to repeat the experience.

The bank ultimately provided a loan for Trump’s purchase of Doral at a bargain price, and how Waugh was no longer in charge of the American operation when the future president returned for a 2016 loan request to pay for work at Turnberry.

While the story is a fairly devastating look at the losses left behind by Trump in several instances, the Enrich account of Waugh, the current PGA President, seems tough early on but ultimately paints the picture of a shrewd banker knowing the tendencies of the customer in question.

Trump Aberdeen Has Racked Up £9.4 Million In Losses Since Opening

The once vaunted Trump International Links near Aberdeen has 77 staffers and last year lost , it’s seventh consecutive year failing to profit, reports The Scotsman’s Martyn McLaughlin.

The Martin Hawtree design, where a second course was recently approved for construction, had been projected to generate as many as 6000 jobs after construction of homes and a second course.

From McLauglin’s report:

The company remains reliant on interest free loans provided by Mr Trump worth £40.6m. The latest filings mean that Mr Trump's resort, which he promised would be the "world's greatest," has now run up cumulative losses of more than £9.4m.

In the previous accounts, covering the 12 months to the end of December 2017, its losses ran to £1.25m, with turnover standing at £2.54m. It employed 84 staff.

The latest accounts, signed off by the Trump Organisation's auditors in Scotland, Johnston Carmichael, cover the 12 months to the end of December 2018. They show the employee headcount has since fallen to 77.

Doral's Airport Adjacency Finally Coming In Handy!

Always perceived as a bit of a hindrance to genuinely relaxing on the links or by the pool, Trump National Doral’s location near the Miami airport is now a national news story.

That’s after President Donald Trump offered up his resort as the likely locale for the 2020 G7 because, on top of the lovely weather in August, it’s airport adjacent.

And every world leader can have their own villa!

From Bloomberg:

“Each country can have their own villa, or their own bungalow” if the meeting is at Doral, Trump said Monday at the end of the G-7 summit in Biarritz, France. The U.S. is next in the rotation to host the annual meeting of world leaders, which will occur in the middle of the 2020 presidential campaign.

“I don’t want to make any money,” said Trump, who also said that he’s losing $3 billion to $5 billion just by serving as president.

Earlier in the day, Trump ticked off advantages of holding a global summit in the Sunshine State of Florida. “It’s very big,” and it’s Miami, “so it’s a great area.” He told German Chancellor Angela Merkel, sitting next to him, that she’d have just a three-minute helicopter ride from the airport to the site.

“People are really liking it,” Trump said.

Doral members are trying to get out and get some of their money back, revenue is plummeting and the PGA Tour no longer goes there.

What Happened To Trump Ferry Point As A Major Tournament Venue?

In light of the New York Daily News’ story last week spotting the first money-losing year and an empty tee shot most days, The Forecaddie wonders what happened to this New York City, Jack Nicklaus, Trump Golf-managed venue with the magical locale?

Longtime readers will know that at one point, there appeared to be a battle for who could name the most tournaments at Ferry Point. And now…

While his supporters will blame politics, Trump Ferry Point is more likely the victim of unrealistic expectations that built as soon as various organizations were sniffing around to see if it would work. Logistically it has issues and now, as so-so sales at New York area majors have shown, the market may be oversaturated both in terms of tournaments and with amazing venues featuring more than just great views.

Which reminds me, The Northern Trust returns this week just months after the PGA at Bethpage and just months before the U.S. Open at Winged Foot. And…it just keeps on coming after that.

Trump Has Only Played One Non-Trump Branded Course Since Becoming President

The reporting by S.V. Date of Huffington Post into President Donald Trump’s golf expenditures is pretty impressive, down to accounting for the cost different to fly depending on locales, types of planes used, etc… The headline numbers are amazing: 174 of 853 days in office President Trump has played at a Trump golf property and at a cost of $102 million to U.S. taxpayers, with a couple of pricey trips coming up this summer to the UK and Ireland, including a stop at Doonbeg without a legitimate diplomatic purpose yet attached.

Maybe even more incredible though is this:

He spent one additional day golfing: Nov. 5, 2017, at the Kasumigaseki Country Club outside Tokyo with Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe. It is the only time thus far that he has played golf at a course he does not own.

That insistence of frequenting his own properties, in fact, has driven his total golf expenses disproportionately higher than Obama’s at the same point in his presidency.

By Obama’s 853rd day in office, he had spent 70 days at a golf course. But 48 of those golf days were at courses on military bases: Joint Base Andrews or Fort Belvoir, both in suburban Washington a short motorcade ride from the White House.

Past presidents have enjoyed using their job as a nice excuse to play top courses. Still, just one time venturing from properties with his name is not easy to pull off!