At this moment in time, Rory McIlroy is probably the second most-famous PGA Tour player, trailing only Tiger Woods in that subjective metric. He’s done a lot to earn that consideration, notably speaking out and showing his truest feelings on various topics, golf or otherwise.
McIlroy did plenty of that on a recent episode of the McKellar Magazine podcast, including sharing some thoughts on playing golf with president Donald Trump. The discussion begins around the 73-minute mark in this wide-ranging interview.
“Having a very settled life away from the course and away from my career has definitely allowed me to be a little opinionated and voice my concerns on some things,” McIlroy said. “Mostly inside the game, but there’s some things that go on outside of golf that I have opinions on … if we were all the same it would be pretty boring.”
When asked about the round he played with President Trump in 2017, McIlroy pointed out that he hasn’t done it since, which is out of choice. McIlroy did have a chuckle when thinking about that round and the ensuing blowback he received from it. “I will sit here and say the day I had with him I enjoyed,” McIlroy said. “But that doesn’t mean I agree with everything or, in fact, anything he says.”
McIlroy pointed out that it seems to him Trump is politicizing the worldwide spread of the coronavirus, and that isn’t the kind of move a leader should make. The No. 1 player in the world made clear to double down that his round with Trump made for an enjoyable day, but would he play with him again?
“I don’t know if he’d want to play with me again after what I just said,” McIlroy joked. “I mean, I don’t know. Again, it’s very self-serving of me to say ‘No’ because if I don’t it means I’m not putting myself in the position to be under scrutiny and I’m avoiding that. But I probably wouldn’t [play with Trump again.], no.”
