We haven’t heard much from sportswriter Rick Reilly since he wrote his last ESPN.com column in 2014 and last appeared on the network itself in 2016, but he has been keeping busy, most notably with writing “Commander in Cheat: How Golf Explains Trump,” which was released Tuesday. Based on the advance notice and a Golf.com excerpt, the book is about exactly what its title suggests: that President Trump’s extremely casual attitude toward the rules of the game are a reflection on his presidency as a whole.
Reilly is making the promotional rounds as the book goes on sale, and he appeared Tuesday on MSNBC. If there’s one surefire way to sell a book, it’s to challenge the president of the United States to a $100,000 golf match.
“I want to play him,” Reilly said. “I think I’m a 4.5 [handicap]. He’s a 2.8. If he plays the 2.8, I’ll play him for 100 grand, [with the money going to] either of our charities. But the rule is, we can’t play his course, we can’t use his cheating caddies, and there’s got to be a rule guy with each of us, and I’ll play him all day.”