Jay Feely Details His Round of Golf with President Trump Plus Being Invited to the RNC

Former New York Jets kicker Jay Feely has played golf with President Donald Trump and been invited to the Republican Convention the past couple of weeks.

Long rumored to someday consider a political run of his own, former NFL kicker Jay Feely has certainly been through a couple of weeks that he describes as surreal. Two weeks ago, Feely played golf with President Donald Trump and then was asked to be a guest at the final day of the Republican National Convention.

It all started when Feely, who spent 14 seasons in the NFL including two years with the New York Jets beginning in 2008, was invited to play golf with the President at his course in Bedminster, N.J. Feely and the President were partnered together for 18 holes, giving the two men ample time to get to know each other and talk about a wide range of issues. The very next week, Feely attended one of the President’s political rallies in Yuma, AZ a guest of the White House.

Shortly after that, he said he received a text message from someone in the administration asking him if he wanted to attend the final night of the Republican convention when the President would speak. The event was supposed to be in Jacksonville, FL but was moved to the White House due to COVID-19.

“The whole thing really was surreal. Any time you’re at the White House – I was at the White House once before when we won the national championship at Michigan and President [Bill] Clinton was in office,” Feely told Sports Illustrated’s Jets Country.

“I have so much respect for that office; I think everyone should regardless of party. Being there was inspiring, sitting on the lawn, looking up at the White House, turn around and look at the Washington Monument. It was a bit emotional of a night if you listened to the speeches, you listened to some of the stories…they were emotional stories…somebody loses their family, somebody loses their husband in one of the riots, somebody’s daughter got killed by ISIS…was in prison and got redemption. Tear jerky stories for sure. Then the President gets up there and gives his vision for the United States. I think he did a great job in speaking to the moderates.”

The former NFL kicker said that part of his due diligence and wanting to be informed, he watched the entirety of both the Democratic and Republican conventions.

Despite being in the political circus, Feely saw an old NFL habit creep in last Thursday, the day when he was in Washington, D.C. for the President’s speech.

In order to clear security and certain clearances to get access for that night’s speech, guests like Feely were supposed to arrive hours before the speech. So in order to make sure everything was smooth, he did his version of scouting.

Feely, who was accompanied by his business partner as his guest for the convention, left their hotel around 9 A.M. on Thursday morning and walked to the White House. There they checked out the facility and saw the entrance they were supposed to pass through a few hours later.

After a couple of hours of being tourists and hitting up some of the local landmarks, Feely and his associate went back to the hotel, showered, changed and headed on out. They were at the White House by 12:30 P.M., a full 30 minutes before they were expected.

“One thing I learned in the NFL was not to be late. I didn’t want to give away my money,” Feely said with a laugh.

“I was never late to anything. We got there early.”

From there, they went through a thorough Secret Service clearance and then COVID-19 testing. He admits that was the worst part of the entire experience.

“You’re sitting there waiting and you’re hoping you pass the COVID test, because if not, everything is lost and you’re on your way out and into quarantine,” Feely said.

“After that, though, it was the White House tour [with several other selected guests] which is special.”

Feely didn’t have a relationship with the President until two weeks ago when they golfed together. He was impressed, he said, with the President’s golf game but also what he called an experience of “just hanging out with one of the guys.”

The President wanted to talk sports and rather in-depth at that. In fact, Feely said that as part of the foursome, the President would rattle off obscure hockey records.

“The first time we actually talked and spent time together and it was just such an amazing opportunity to golf with the President of the United States while he’s President of the United States. It adds a lot of pressure to every shot, especially when he’s your partner,” Feely said.

“I got to golf with President [George W.] Bush after he was President. That was pretty cool too. But it was surreal to play with the entirety of the secret service there.”

On the 18th hole, Feely made a birdie to win the match for himself and the President.