Rory McIlroy has hit out at Donald Trump's handling of the coronavirus pandemic and said he would never play a round of golf with the US president again.
McIlroy endured a backlash from some fans on social media after playing with Trump at the International course in Florida back in 2017, with some accusing the Co Down golfer of "making a political statement".
Speaking on the McKellar Golf Podcast, McIlroy indicated he would never partner Trump on the golf course again.
Asked about the reaction to their first game in 2017, McIlroy said: “Guilt by association. I haven’t done it since, so there’s one answer to [your] question."
He added: “I’ll sit here and say the day that I did spend with him and others was very enjoyable.
“He’s very charismatic, he was nice to everyone — it didn’t matter whether you were me or guys in the cart barn or the pro at the golf club.
“He has something. He obviously has something or he wouldn’t be in the White House, right? He has something — whatever it is, an X-factor, charisma, whatever.
"Most people that he came across that day he was cordial to, he was nice and personable. That was my only interaction with him the day I had with him."
McIlroy added: “But that doesn’t mean that I agree with everything — or in fact anything — that he says."
The Holywood golfer also hit out at the way Trump has handled the Covid-19 pandemic.
McIlroy claimed Trump had tried to "politicise" the crisis, despite the country having the world’s highest death toll at more than 86,000.
“We’re in the midst of something that’s pretty serious right now and the fact that he’s trying to politicise it and make it a campaign rally and say we’re administering the most tests in world like it is a contest - there’s something that just is terrible," McIlroy said.
"It’s not the way a leader should act. There’s a sort of diplomacy that you need to have, and I don’t think he’s showing that — especially in these times."
McIlroy said that Trump wouldn't want want to play golf with him again after his comments.
“I don’t know if he’d want to play with me again after what I just said. But no, I wouldn’t," he said.
