World No. 1 Rory McIlroy last played a round of golf with President Donald Trump more than three years ago, hasn’t played with him since and says there’s little chance he’ll play with him again.
McIlroy made the comments during an appearance this week on the McKellar Golf Podcast.
“I always want to stay in my lane,” he said. “But being more comfortable in my own skin, being married and having a very settled life away from the course and away from my carer, has definitely allowed me to be a little more opinionated.”
Then came the questions about the 18 holes he played at Trump International Golf Club in Florida.
“I’ll sit here and say that 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 the 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, it’s an X factor or it’s charisma, I don’t know. Whatever you call it but most people that he came across that day, he was cordial, he was nice, he was personable and that’s my only real interaction with him.
“So I will sit here and say that the day I had with him I enjoyed but that doesn’t mean I agree with everything.
“Or, in fact, anything that he says.”
McIlroy continued.
“We’re in the midst of something that’s pretty serious right now and the fact that he’s trying to politicize it and make it a campaign rally, saying that (the U.S.) administers the most tests in the world like it’s a contest. … It’s just not the way a leader should act and there is a bit of diplomacy that you need to show and I just don’t think he’s shown that, especially in these times.”
McIlroy was then asked if he’d play with Trump again.
“I don’t know if he’d want to play with me again after what I just said. I know it’s very self-serving of me to say ‘No’ and if I don’t, then it means then I’m not putting myself in position to be put under scrutiny and that I’m avoiding that.
“But I probably wouldn’t, no.”
McIlroy played golf with Trump in February of 2017, and quickly took a lot of flak for it.
“I was a little bit taken aback by the blow-back I received, but I get why,” McIlroy said a couple weeks later at the WGC-Mexico Championship that season. “I get the divisive rhetoric and everything that was said. It’s a tough place to be in, it’s a tough position. But again, I was just doing what I felt was respectful and the president of the United States phones you up and wants to play golf with you, you know, I wasn’t going to say no.”