Actually, it strikes me as a very human reaction in all this. It's really the first time in five years that I've seen his actions and thought, "oh, he's a person, just like the rest of us", as his entire mission - everything he worked for since he started - just unravels around him as it finally dawned on him that he is not going to get what he wants this time and he doesn't know what else to do but go to the one place he feels he can depend on for comfort: his golf course.
It still undermines your proposition that he's got an ace up his sleeve, but for once I see him as a human being.
And I'm glad, frankly, I think a humbling experience like this will do him some good.