McIlroy speaks on Trump round

RORY McIlroy defended his recent round of golf with US President Donald Trump as he prepared for this week’s WGC-Mexico Championship.

The Northern Ireland star said he was taken aback by the scale of the criticism he had received for his round with Trump, insisting he had put politics to one side for the occasion.

McIlroy had already addressed the issue in a statement last week following criticism, but faced renewed questioning on Tuesday before this week’s event at Club de Golf Chapultepec.

“I just approached it, as I said in my statement, as a round of golf,” McIlroy said.

“Anyone’s beliefs or politics or whatever, just put that to one side for a minute.

“To go there and see 30 secret service and 30 cops and snipers in the trees, it was just a surreal experience for me to see something like that. “That was part of the reason I wanted to play. “If it had been Obama I would have gone to play. “I’ve played golf with President Clinton, I’ve spent time with President Bush . . . I just wanted to have an experience that I might not ever get; play golf with a sitting president.

“You can respect the guy, not respect the guy, I don’t care, but if someone has a chance to play in that scenario and experience the whole thing . . . ”

McIlroy said he had spent the round talking golf with Trump.

“I think he was happier to talk golf than anything else that he has to do these days,” he said, adding that he understood the criticism about being associated with Trump.

“I get the divisive rhetoric and everything that was said,” he said.

“I just felt I was doing what was respectful, and if the president of the United States wants to play golf with you, I wasn’t going to say no.

“I’m sorry if I sort of, I don’t know, pissed people off, but I felt I was in a position where I couldn’t really do anything but say yes.” – AFP