Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-S.C.), in an interview with GOLF Magazine, stood by his claim that President Trump shot a 73 during their golf game Monday.
Graham told the magazine in a 33 minute interview Wednesday that Trump was an excellent golfer and “did not come close to making a double bogey all day.”
Graham tweeted that Trump had shot a 73 in the hours after the game.
He said that the pair spent the first half of the game just discussing golf but moved onto “serious things on the back nine” like North Korea, the Iran deal and immigration.
“Donald Trump on the golf course is a very charming, gracious man. Very funny. Very competitive, but gracious. When you host somebody, you want them to have a good time,” Graham said.
“We would play a hole, he would talk about the hole, how they took trees down. He had a lot of pride in the course. It’s something, to play a golf course with the president of the United States on a course he owns. He’s got that big, giant flag there — it’s pretty stunning.”
{mosads}Graham said he lost to Trump and owed him $30, but only had $5 on him. Trump accepted the money.
The Republican senator added that Trump didn’t ask him to share Trump’s golf score after the game.
“I did it,” Graham said. “I did it on my own.”
GOLF Magazine cast doubt on Trump’s score in the piece, but Graham stood by his claim that Trump shot a 73 — or maybe a 74.
“Still, the senator’s claimed score for Trump is patently unbelievable to many golfers. A score of 84 would seem plausible. Trump is a good golfer. But a 73, from a 71-year-old who plays often for a president but infrequently for a low-handicap golfer? Unlikely, to say the least,” the magazine wrote.
The pair spent Columbus Day golfing at Trump’s golf course in Virginia, the day after Trump released his proposals to be included in legislation on the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA) program.
Graham is the co-sponsor of the Dream Act, which would create a pathway to citizenship for many DACA recipients
Graham has been critical of Trump in the past, including during the presidential campaign and over Trump’s comments after deadly violence at a rally in Charlottesville, Va.
But the two worked together to push an ObamaCare repeal bill that Graham co-sponsored in the Senate last month. The bill ultimately failed.