Harry Kane recalls surreal golf round with Donald Trump

Harry Kane said he once played golf with Donald Trump in Palm Beach, Florida, describing the round as a “pretty surreal experience” after the United States president invited him while he was in town. The England captain said the outing happened about 18 months ago and that Trump’s golf was “pretty good.”

Kane’s account added an unusual political sidelight to England’s World Cup build-up in Miami, where Thomas Tuchel’s squad was preparing for a quarter-final against Norway. The 31-year-old Bayern Munich striker said the invitation came while he was “down in Palm Beach,” and that the round felt like a “unique experience” as well as a chance meeting with one of the most recognizable figures in American politics.

Trump had already drawn attention to Kane earlier in the week by praising him on Truth Social after England’s 3-2 victory over Mexico, calling him a “GREAT player!!!” He later told reporters that he had played golf with Kane and liked him a lot, reinforcing a link that quickly spilled beyond sport and into the broader media spotlight around the tournament.

The episode also sat alongside another Florida golf outing from England’s pre-World Cup camp. Before the tournament, Tuchel held preparations in Florida, where Kane and several teammates played with five-time major winner Brooks Koepka at the exclusive Dutchman’s Pipe club in West Palm Beach. For a national team trying to keep its focus on the field, the back-to-back golf references made England’s run through the United States feel more public, more personal and more entangled with the country’s political stage.

Kane, who is 31, said he hoped he could still swing the club as well as Trump when he is 80. The remark underlined the strange overlap between elite sport and political celebrity, where a casual invitation on a golf course can instantly become part of the public record around a global tournament.