Fore! Why Donald Trump gave Greg Sankey a mulligan during golf round

• When the president of the United States offers you a mulligan on the tee box, you take it. Just ask Greg Sankey.
• The SEC commissioner and President Trump golfed in June. Notre Dame’s athletic director also played in the group.
• Greg Sankey coached golf at Northwestern State in the early 1990s.

Greg Sankey won’t try to convince you he’s nearly as good of a golfer as President Donald Trump, but the SEC commissioner had a good round going through five holes in June.

Then, he became engrossed in conversation with the leader of the free world. That’s when his round went awry.

Sankey and Trump began discussing the national championship Florida Gators basketball team’s visit to the White House, and Sankey lost his focus. He sliced his tee shot on No. 6.

Not to worry, because the President of the United States offered Sankey a mulligan.

“The president … said, ‘Well, go ahead and re-tee. I was talking in your backswing,’” Sankey told me.

Sankey accepted the mulligan, but he sliced the second tee shot, too.

“I lost my mojo after that,” Sankey said. “It took me a while to get it back.”

Sankey recounted those details from his golf round with Trump while I interviewed Sankey for a profile that published recently, after USA TODAY selected the SEC commissioner as the most powerful figure in college football. Ten writers and editors participated in the balloting. I cast one of the ballots, as we highlighted college football’s top-25 power brokers.

Sankey and I got into some fun anecdotes during my 40-minute interview with college football’s power broker in chief.

I chuckled when Sankey revealed that, as a sixth grader, he signed his copy of John Wooden’s autobiography, “lest anyone try to steal it.” Ever the planner, a young Sankey had the foresight to fend off potential book bandits and cast protection on a book about the UCLA basketball coach he so admired. Sankey received the Wooden book as a prize for winning a clean desk of the month competition.

We also discussed how in the world Sankey became Northwestern State’s golf coach in 1990 and how it resulted in him being named district coach of the year. As Sankey put it, he owned a nice set of Ping clubs, Northwestern State needed a coach, and he was available, already on campus working within the athletic department as an intern in his mid-20s.

I became most interested, though, when I pivoted the conversation to Sankey’s round of golf with Trump and Notre Dame athletic director Pete Bevacqua on June 8 at Trump National Golf Club in New Jersey.

Sankey has spent plenty of time in Washington, D.C., lobbying for federal NIL legislation, but he’d never interacted with the president before that round of golf. So, how did it all come about? Bevacqua gets some credit. He’s known Trump for years. The Notre Dame athletic director used to be the CEO of the PGA of America, and Trump is an avid golfer with a vested interested in the sport.

Bevacqua asked Sankey if he’d be interested in joining him and Trump for a round of golf, if the opportunity arose.

“I’m like, ‘Pete, I don’t play enough.’ The president plays a lot, and Pete’s a great golfer,” Sankey said. “I said, ‘If you want me around, I might shoot mid-90s,’ but I can get around (the course), and every so often, the brilliance will show up, but I’d welcome the chance to have a conversation” with the president.

The chance popped up in June, with Sankey receiving a few days’ notice about the round. He had to submit information for security clearance to play with the president, and, come that Sunday, they were on the course.

“I had a fun day,” Sankey said.

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As Sankey recalls it, he had a round of 1-over-par going until he found trouble off the tee on No. 6. It took him a while to regain a groove, but, on one hole, he and the president each had birdie putt opportunities. Trump sank his putt. Sankey’s putt stayed left of the cup.

“I finished well coming in the last three or four holes,” said Sankey, who recalls his score winding up “in the low 90s.”

Not a bad score, all in all. Not as good as the president’s score.

“No, not at all,” Sankey said, when I asked whether he carded a lower score than the president, who owns an impressive handicap.

“I hope when I’m in my late 70s I move around and hit the ball that well. That’s what I hope.”

For now, Sankey must settle for being the recipient of a POTUS-issued mulligan.

Blake Toppmeyer is the USA TODAY Network’s national college football columnist. Email him at BToppmeyer@gannett.com and follow him on X @btoppmeyer.