Sen. Lindsey Graham confirms Trump shooting 73 (or 74) in golf

Sen. Lindsey Graham tweeted on Monday that he had played a round of golf with Donald Trump and the president shot a 73 in windy and wet conditions.

Most people quickly excused it as fake news.

Trump, astonishingly, neither said or tweeted anything about it … yet.

GOLF.com decided to investigate. They talked with Graham, an avid golfer, for more than 30 minutes about the round.

Some quick facts:

—The site was Trump National Golf Club Washington in Virginia, about 30 minutes from the White House. They played the Par-72 championship course, site of the Senior PGA Championship this year.

—They hit from the blue tees — the same as the seniors did for their championship — which play at about 6,800 yards.

—Trump did not take any mulligans.

The republican senator from South Carolina told GOLF.com that Trump shot par on the front nine and was one, maybe two, over on the back, which would have given him a 73 or 74.

Sounding like a golf analyst, Graham went into great detail describing Trump’s golf game:

“What impressed me about the president is that he has a nice, compact swing, and he can get it up-and-down from jail. He’s very accurate with his drives and hits his irons consistently.”

Trump has been been praised for having the best golf game of any recent president. Trump even bragged that he could have played on the tour.

Still, GOLF.com questioned a 71-year-old shooting a 73 on a tough course. They pointed out that almost half the scores from the PGA senior event were 74 or higher.

Graham, who has had his differences with Trump in the past, said the president couldn’t have been funnier or more gracious. At one point, Graham said he ran out of balls and Trump was kind enough to share his. “They didn’t have the presidential seal,” Graham said.

But the president’s graciousness stopped when it came time to square up. Graham, who considers himself a 12-handicap, said he lost $30 in the match, but had only $5 in his pocket. The president gladly accepted it.