Trump brushes aside McIlroy’s criticism
Donald Trump does not expect to be teeing it up any time soon with Rory McIlroy, who last week called out the US president for his leadership.
McIlroy, the No 1 player in the world, blasted his former golfing partner Trump on a podcast episode for the latter’s handling of the Covid-19 pandemic. Trump, an avid golfer, and McIlroy played a round 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 US] administers the most tests in the world like it’s a contest,” McIlroy said.
“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.”
Asked on Sunday during an interview with NBC television how he felt about the criticism he sometimes receives from players, Trump said he does not 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,” Trump told NBC during the broadcast of a tournament in that included McIlroy and three others playing for charity.
But Trump said he did not 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 31-year-old McIlroy was getting back into the swing of things on Sunday with fellow pros Dustin Johnson, Rickie Fowler and Matthew Wolff after a two-month break due to the coronavirus pandemic.
They are shaking off the golf rust to raise money for Covid-19 relief and help introduce new safety guidelines from the PGA.
The Taylor Made 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 tournaments without spectators in which the players will be forced to undergo Covid-19 testing and temperature screenings.
In his phone call to NBC, 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 closeddoor mixed martial arts card in Florida did not miss the fans.
Trump declined to answer a question about the rationale behind testing million-dollar athletes when many Americans still do not have access to reliable coronavirus tests.
But the president, who refuses to wear a protective mask, hinted that sports fans might be able to get tests.
“The athletes will be tested very carefully ... If people want to go, they can be tested very carefully,” he said.
Trump said sport needed to get back as quickly as possible for the “psyche” of Americans.
On Sunday, McIlroy won the closest to the pin challenge on a playoff hole to give himself and teammate Johnson an 11-7 win over Fowler and Wolff. Overall, the event raised more than $5.5m for charity.