Golf: Trump dedicates Presidents Cup victory to hurricane victims

By Steve Keating

JERSEY CITY, NEW Jersey (Reuters) - Under pressure to step up relief efforts in hurricane ravaged Puerto Rico, President Donald Trump dedicated the United States victory over an International team at the Presidents Cup on Sunday to the storm stricken island.

Trump, an avid golfer and owner of several courses around the world, paid a whistle stop visit to Liberty National where he dedicated the victory to the people of Puerto Rico, Texas and Florida, who have all been hit by hurricanes as he presented the trophy to winning captain Steve Stricker.

"On behalf of all of the people of Texas, of all of the people -- if you look today, if you see what's happening, how horrible it is but we have it under really great control, Puerto Rico, and the people of Florida, who are really suffering over this last short period of time with hurricanes," said Trump.

"I want to just remember them and we are going to dedicate this trophy to all of those people that went through so much."

Trump's visit to the Presidents Cup came on the same day U.S. lawmakers urged him to stop sniping at Puerto Rican officials and get to work helping them recover from the devastation caused by Hurricane Maria.

While NFL players continued to defy him by kneeling during the U.S. national anthem before games on Sunday, Liberty National was safer sporting ground for the President.

"I thought it was a great thrill," said Stricker. "I thought it was a great opportunity for us to be with him.

"And this tournament is about respecting the Office, respecting the President of the United States, and whether your views may be one way versus another, that wasn't what it was about there on the green.

"It was about us getting together as a team, playing for one another, playing for the USA and it was a great thrill for all of us to get the trophy handed to us from him."

(Editing by Greg Stutchbury)