Rory McIlroy slams Donald Trump over coronavirus pandemic and says he won’t play golf with president again

World golf no.1 Rory McIlroy has hit out at US President Donald Trump over his handling of the coronavirus outbreak and suggested he would never play a round with him again.

The Northern Irishman accused Trump of “trying to politicize” the pandemic and boasting about America’s testing figures, despite the country having the world’s highest death toll at more than 86,000.

“We’re in the midst of something that’s pretty serious right now,” McIlroy told the McKellar Golf Podcast. “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 drew substantial criticism after playing 18 holes with Trump at his International Golf Club in Florida in 2017.

While the 31-year-old admitted he found the day “enjoyable”, he stressed: “That doesn’t mean I agree with everything - or, in fact, anything - that he says.”

When pressed on whether he would play with Trump again, he added: “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.”

The PGA Tour has been suspended since the Players’ Championship was abandoned after one round in March.

On Thursday, McIlroy confirmed his intention to play in the first three events after the circuit’s proposed restart next month, starting with the Charles Schwab Colonial in Texas on June 11.