AUGUSTA, Ga. — You’ve already made your pick for a Masters champion. But how about the Golfer-In-Chief? President Donald Trump knows his golf — he owns more than a dozen courses around the world, counts major champions as his playing partners, and gets out on the links with regularity. So who’s his pick to win?
At a joint Oval Office appearance with South Korean president Moon Jae-In, Trump was asked about his predictions for the tournament. Here he is playing golf commentator:
“You know there’s 15 players capable of winning. And I guess you could say there’s a lot more than that. They’re great players. I don’t think a field for the Masters has ever been this deep. I was watching late last night and they were going over the different players.”
As for his picks, Trump dodged the question directly but, not surprisingly, highlighted some familiar names: “Always, Phil [Mickelson] and Tiger [Woods] and Dustin [Johnson]. ... But they were just saying, ’They’re younger. They’re stronger. They’ve never hit the ball this long. They’ve never hit the ball this accurately. They’ve never putted better than they do now.’”
All of this is more or less true; the middle-of-the-pack players of today are worlds ahead of players in the Palmer/Nicklaus era in terms of strength and fitness. It’s one reason we haven’t had a Tiger-type player since Tiger — everybody’s just too good for any one person to break out.
Here’s a clip of the president’s Masters commentary:
Trump concludes the press event with some analysis of the [checks notes].... Masters golf tournament pic.twitter.com/UgI4YdSckw
— Aaron Rupar (@atrupar) April 11, 2019
“You know, the whole thing is pretty incredible, but the field is very, very deep,” Trump said. “I think it’s going to be a great Masters. I hope so.”
While Trump himself has been spotted on the grounds during Masters past, it’s a near-certainty that he’s not a member of the famed, and famously secretive, Augusta National Golf Club. We’ll see just how accurate his predictions are in just a few days.
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Jay Busbee is a writer for Yahoo Sports. Contact him at jay.busbee@yahoo.com or find him on Twitter or on Facebook.
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