Rory McIlroy this week criticized President Donald Trump's handling of the coronavirus pandemic in the United States.
The world's No. 1-ranked men's golfer accused Trump of trying to "politicize" the crisis, with 1.46 million confirmed cases in America and 87,025 people having died after receiving a positive test for coronavirus.
"We're in the midst of something that's pretty serious right now," McIlroy told the McKellar Golf Podcast. "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.
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"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 previously defended his decision to play golf with the president in 2017 at his International Golf Club in Florida. He said on the podcast that it was an experience he enjoyed but not one he expects to have again.
"I don't know if he'd want to play with me again after what I just said," he continued. "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 day that I did spend with him and others was very enjoyable. He is very charismatic and was nice to everyone. He obviously has something, or he wouldn't be in the White House.
"That doesn't mean I agree with everything — or, in fact, anything — that he says."