Richard Johnson

Richard Johnson

Celebrity News

Politicians looking to score with Trump

Donald Trump, kingmaker?

All the potential Republican presidential candidates seem to be sucking up to the real estate tycoon these days, hoping for his support.

Trump played a round of golf with Rand Paul on Saturday at Trump International Palm Beach, after the Kentucky senator contacted him and said he was coming to town.

While Trump shot an even-par 72, Paul needed a few more strokes.

“If he played more, he could be an excellent player,” Trump said. “He’s a very nice guy. We really had a good time.”

A week earlier, Trump introduced Sen. Ted Cruz of Texas to a ballroom full of Republicans celebrating Lincoln Day at Mar-a-lago.

Cruz was back in Palm Beach last weekend, staying at the Breakers, to attend the Club for Growth meeting of wealthy conservatives.

This week, Jeb Bush will be at Trump National Doral in Miami as honorary chair of the Cadillac World Golf Championship, where 70 of the top players on the planet — including, maybe, an ailing Tiger Woods — will compete.

Trump, who signed the contract to buy the 800-acre golf course in 2010, broke ground on a Gil Hanse redesign of the course the day after last year’s Doral tournament ended.

“We blew up the Blue Monster,” Trump said. Hanse has since been chosen to design the Olympic golf course in Rio de Janeiro for the 2016 games.

Trump will up the glamor quotient among the 150,000 spectators expected at Doral this year. Laughed one local: “The stilettos will meet the spikes.”