A tiny handshake between Donald Trump and Scottie Scheffler became one of the most talked-about moments from Sunday’s Presidents Cup, and it had nothing to do with the golf swing.
Trump showed up at Medinah Country Club as the event’s honorary chairman, a role every sitting U.S. president has held since George H.W. Bush.
He arrived with Team USA facing a 10.5-7.5 deficit, an unusual hole to be in at home heading into the closing singles session. Before the matches, Trump kept his comments brief, joking that the crowd came for golf, not a speech.
The reaction around the course was mixed, though it leaned friendly overall. Some fans chanted “four more years” as Trump made his way to his seat, while scattered boos could also be heard among the cheers.
Then came the clip that took over golf social media. Golf Digest senior writer Christopher Powers posted a two-second video Sunday afternoon showing Trump greeting Scheffler on the course. In the caption, Powers wrote, “Please tell me that was a ‘f**k em’ from Trump,” and the post quickly spread, pulling in more than 288,000 views by the time of writing.
In the video, Trump clasps Scheffler’s hand and leans in close, his mouth clearly moving as he appears to say a short phrase. From there, the internet did what it always does: filled in the blanks.
Replies poured in with fans treating the moment like a puzzle they’d already solved. “I want to run through a brick wall,” one fan wrote.
Another said, “We’ve never been more back as a nation,” while a third offered, “Fuck em up.” A fourth added, “The way we all heard exactly what we needed to hear.”
Trump and Scheffler have already drawn attention together this year. Scheffler, a two-time major champion, spoke highly of Trump’s behavior around others, saying the president treated “everybody the same” and with “the utmost respect.” He has also said Trump has reached out after his big wins with calls and texts, which Scheffler has described as genuine interest in golf rather than politics.
That history is part of why Sunday’s brief exchange landed so hard online. A simple handshake turned into a full-blown lip-reading debate, even though those clips are notoriously hard to decipher with any certainty.
For now, though, the real action remains on the course, where Scheffler and Team USA are trying to finish the job.
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Scottie Scheffler Gave Team USAs Win Its Most Talked-About Moment
Team USAs Presidents Cup run ended the way it so often has in this event, with another victory and another round of Sunday pressure handled by the Americans. The 17-13 win gave the U.S. an 11th straight Presidents Cup title, and the clincher came when Jacob Bridgeman rolled in a par putt on the 18th hole to seal it. Scottie Scheffler, Justin Thomas and rookie Jackson Koivun all played major roles in the singles session, giving the Americans the kind of depth that has carried them through so many of these matchups.
Scheffler, in particular, supplied one of the days most talked-about moments, a gesture that summed up both the competitiveness and the sportsmanship of the afternoon. Koivun also continued to look right at home in his first team event, turning in a strong showing that underscored why the rookie became such an important part of the U.S. push. For a Presidents Cup that had been in hand before the final putt, Sunday still found a way to produce the kind of defining scene this team seems to keep creating. [Read more 🡒]