Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz posted a golf video to social media that drew widespread ridicule for his swing and wardrobe choices, a lighthearted distraction from the billions in welfare fraud that ended his reelection hopes.
Walz shared an approximately two-minute clip on X showing himself playing the sixth hole at Northwest Angle Country Club in Minnesota, a 261-yard Par-4. He wore a quarter-zip pullover with no undershirt underneath, a fashion decision that drew as much attention as the golf itself. OutKick columnist Zach Dean called the outfit choice "absolutely psycho behavior."
Walz claimed he had 100 yards remaining on his second shot, which would put his tee shot at roughly 161 yards on a 261-yard hole. Dean noted that Walz's drive almost certainly did not travel 220 yards, as the governor's own stated yardage confirmed. Walz finished the hole with a two-putt bogey.
Social media users piled on. Walz had already been mocked online following his suggestion that he might run for president in 2028, a trial balloon that landed about as well as his tee shot.
The golf outing might be easy to dismiss as a slow-news-day curiosity, except for what Walz is actually running from. Federal prosecutors estimate that up to half of the $18 billion Minnesota distributed across 14 taxpayer-funded social services programs since 2018 could be fraudulent. That is potentially $9 billion in stolen public money, on Walz's watch, under his administration's oversight.
The scale of the scandal forced Walz to announce on January 5 that he would not seek reelection as governor. "The buck does stop with me," he told reporters at a press conference before walking out without taking questions.
Vice President JD Vance has pushed for accountability beyond Walz's political exit. Vance sent Walz and Minnesota Attorney General Keith Ellison to the Justice Department for a criminal fraud referral, pressing for a full federal investigation into how the money disappeared and who failed to stop it.
Walz is scheduled to testify before the House Oversight and Government Reform Committee on March 4 alongside Ellison. Chairman James Comer, a Kentucky Republican, framed the hearing in blunt terms.
"Americans deserve answers about the rampant misuse of taxpayer dollars in Minnesota's social services programs that occurred on Governor Walz's and Attorney General Ellison's watch."
State Republican lawmakers have already testified under oath that Walz and Ellison failed to act on the fraud and retaliated against whistleblowers who tried to raise alarms. The Washington Examiner reported that the hearing will examine the alleged misuse of federal funds intended for Minnesota social services and Medicaid programs.
A December poll found that a large majority of Minnesota registered voters believed welfare fraud was a major problem in the state and wanted Walz to do more to stop it. He chose to step aside instead.
Vance has also called on the Justice Department to investigate Walz over what critics describe as a cover-up of Minnesota benefit fraud, a charge that extends beyond negligence into questions about whether the governor's office actively suppressed efforts to root out the theft.
The fraud scandal is not the only controversy trailing Walz. His long history with communist China has drawn sustained scrutiny. Walz first traveled to China in 1989, the same year as the Tiananmen Square massacre, and told a Nebraska newspaper that the Chinese treated him "exceptionally well." He deliberately chose to marry on June 4, 1994, the fifth anniversary of the massacre.
His wife, Gwen Walz, confirmed the date was intentional. "He wanted to have a date he'll always remember," she said. The couple honeymooned in China, and Walz and his wife later founded a tour company called Educational Travel Adventures that made dozens of trips back to the country. As recently as 2015, Walz praised China's development, saying, "There's no doubt...the modernization of China over the last 25 years has been nothing short of spectacular." Breitbart documented the full timeline of those ties.
Closer to home, Walz drew fire for his involvement in clemency decisions that put public safety at risk. His administration and the Minnesota Board of Pardons cleared a convicted child sex offender facing deportation, a decision that drew national condemnation. Federal authorities later stepped in after Secretary of State Marco Rubio revoked the legal status Walz had tried to protect.
The Minnesota fraud scandal also extends beyond Walz's office. Rep. Ilhan Omar has faced questions about her connections to the Feeding Our Future fraud case, one of the largest pandemic-era fraud schemes in the country. Omar has denied ties to the fraud and tried to shift blame to the Trump administration, a deflection that has done little to quiet the questions.
Walz's golf video was not the only item generating conversation. The NFL's Hall of Fame game, which aired the previous Thursday, pulled in 7 million viewers. Dean described it as the league's "most useless preseason game", and it still outdrew the NBA's best playoff ratings in a generation.
The NBA averaged 6.35 million viewers across all of its playoff games in the most recent season, spread across ABC, ESPN, Prime Video, NBC, and Peacock. That was the league's best figure since 1998. And a single preseason NFL exhibition still beat it.
The gap between the two leagues' cultural footprints keeps widening, and the numbers tell the story without embellishment. The NFL commands attention even when the games do not count. The NBA struggles to match that even when everything is on the line.
Dean also covered the ongoing controversy surrounding WNBA player Sophie Cunningham, who was involved in a physical incident that left her bloodied during a game. The aftermath shifted quickly from the contact itself to accusations of racial bias, with the league and media framing the situation around questions of privilege rather than the on-court conduct. Sports Illustrated edited a headline about the incident involving Cunningham, creating its own social media backlash.
On a lighter note, baseball player Mark Coley II delivered one of the weekend's best highlights, an outfield catch where he knocked a ball back into the field of play and grabbed it on the way down. The Savannah Bananas, the barnstorming baseball entertainment team, also drew attention, with Super Bowl champion Russell Wilson taking a swing for the club.
A governor who presided over what could be the largest welfare fraud in state history, who chose his wedding date to commemorate a communist massacre, and who shielded a convicted sex offender from deportation spent his Monday posting golf videos. The swing told you everything you needed to know, not about his short game, but about his priorities.
