Japanese PM Shinzo Abe Falls While Playing Golf With Donald Trump, But President Misses It
Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe fell while playing golf with Donald Trump, but the U.S. president didn’t even notice. The video of the incident is taking the internet by storm after aerial footage shows Abe slipping into a sand bunker on the golf course with Trump nowhere in sight.
Daily Mail reports that Abe and Trump were playing a round of golf at the Kasumigaseki Country Club on Sunday with several others when the Japanese prime minister took a tumble. Apparently, Abe had hit the ball out of the sand and was walking up the bunker when he missed his step. He lost his balance and fell backward head over heels. It was quite a fall, but he quickly got back up on his feet. He was up before his aide could reach him. The video is posted below, which was included in Daily Mail‘s report of where Trump was at the time of Abe’s fall.
It’s unclear where Trump was when his golfing partner took a spill. The video taken from an overhead helicopter shows that the president had no idea what was going on. He was playing ahead of Abe and said to be “in deep consternation with Hideki Matsuyama,” who’s currently ranked the No. 4 pro golfer in the world. He showed up to enjoy a game with the Japanese prime minister and U.S. president.
The game was called a “major failure” by a Japanese tabloid. Nikkan Gendai wrote that Shinzo Abe was frequently left behind by Trump because he’d rather walk and talk with the golf pro.
Abe’s fall didn’t ruin the fun he and Trump had, however. They both tweeted about their day on the golf course, with Trump posting a video of him hitting a golf ball.
“Playing golf with Prime Minister Abe and Hideki Matsuyama, two wonderful people!” Trump tweeted.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?time_continue=1&v=NvDSG7mdBRI
A senior U.S. official said no one kept score in the game Abe and Trump played. The prime minister joked that the score was “a matter of national security.”
Prime Minister Shinzo Abe went head over heels into sandbunker while on the golf course with Trump https://t.co/y6zE4RDa06
— Daily Mail US (@DailyMail) November 9, 2017
Both world leaders signed white baseball caps that read, “Donald & Shinzo Make Alliance Even Greater.”
The two men met again on Monday in Tokyo for formal talks before the Trumps flew to South Korea and China on Wednesday.
President Trump and Japan’s Prime Minister Shinzo Abe waxed poetic about their round of golf together. https://t.co/9yzmirXu0s
— USA TODAY (@USATODAY) November 5, 2017
Trump and Abe had played golf right after the election in 2016 last November and again in February at Mar-a-Lago.
[Featured Image by Chip Somodevilla/Getty Images]
