Golf stars ‘all great people’, says Trump

DONALD Trump doesn’t expect to be teeing it up anytime soon with Rory McIlroy, who called out the US President earlier this week for his controversial leadership.

McIlroy, the world No.1, blasted his former golfing partner on a podcast episode for the latter’s handling of the COVID-19 pandemic.

Mr Trump, an avid golfer, and McIlroy played together three years ago in Florida.

“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, saying that (the United States) administers the most tests in the world like it’s a contest — it’s just not the way a leader should act,” McIlroy said.

“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.”

Asked during a video link interview with NBC television how he felt about the criticism he sometimes receives from players, Mr Trump said he doesn’t expect them all to like him.

“A lot of them are very political. Some of them like my politics and some don’t. The ones that don’t, I don’t see as much,” Mr Trump told NBC during the broadcast of the TaylorMade Driving Relief exhibition at Seminole Golf Club in Florida that included McIlroy and three others playing for charity.

But Mr Trump said he didn’t hold a grudge against players who were turned off by his abrasive style. “I know so many of the tour players. I can’t think of anyone I don’t like, and I can’t say that in life. When you meet tour players, they are all great people,” he said.

The TaylorMade Driving Relief is a forerunner to the PGA’s scheduled official return in June with a tournament in Republican-run Texas that will take place without spectators.

The Texas event will be followed by three other spectator-less tournaments in which the players will be forced to undergo COVID-19 testing and temperature screenings.

Mr Trump put out mixed signals on how sports should proceed when it comes to having fans in attendance.

He wants golf events like The Masters to return with spectators “practically standing on top of each other,” but in the next breath said last week’s closed-door mixed martial arts card in Florida didn’t miss the fans.

He declined to answer a question about the rationale behind testing million-dollar athletes when many Americans still don’t have access to reliable coronavirus tests.

Mr Trump said sports needed to get back as quickly as possible for the “psyche” of American people.