Irish golfer Rory McIlroy finds it is funny that the PGA removed the multimillion-dollar Memorial Tournament from Donald Trump’s Doral resort near Miami and moved it to Mexico City.
After the PGA announced that after 53 years it was dumping Trump’s Florida property for Mexico City, McIlroy joked about the “wall” between Mexico and the U.S. that Trump has made a staple of his campaign for the GOP nomination for president.
“It’s quite ironic that we’re going to Mexico after being at Doral,” McIlroy said according to CBS Sports. “We just jump over the wall.”
After the jibe, the golfer with 20 professional wins under his belt proved he had even more to say about how great the move to Mexico was.
“We’ve been going down to Mexico, whether it’s been a World Cup or a Champions Tour going down there,” McIlroy continued. “We have the PGA Tour Latino America. So I think it’s a good move. I think it really is — to have a World Golf Championship outside of the States.
“If it’s going to be on that same date, obviously, it’s a little more inconvenient for me being in Palm Beach Gardens and having just to drive an hour down the road to Doral. But it’s a World Golf Championship, it’s going to be, obviously, a great prize fund. It’s going to have all the best players in the world there. I’m sure it’s going to be a good golf course,” he concluded.
As to Trump, he criticized the PGA’s move as a matter of politics instead of sports and even warned of the violence infesting our southern neighbor.
“I just heard that the PGA Tour is taking their tournament out of Miami and moving it to Mexico,” Trump said on Fox News on Tuesday evening. “It’s at Doral … they used one of my places. They’re moving their tournament; it’s the Cadillac World Golf Championship. And Cadillac’s been a great sponsor, but they’re moving it to Mexico. They’re moving it to Mexico City, which, by the way, I hope they have kidnapping insurance.”
“But they’re moving it to Mexico City. And I’m saying, you know, what’s going on here? It is so sad when you look at what’s going on with our country,” the real estate mogul said.
McIlroy is one of the world’s standout golfers having won the U.S. Open in 2011, the Open Championship in 2014, and the PGA Championship in both 2012 and 2014. He placed 4th at the Masters in 2015. In 2012, the now 27-year-old pro became the youngest player in PGA Tour history to reach the $10 million mark in earnings.
Follow Warner Todd Huston on Twitter @warnerthuston or email the author at igcolonel@hotmail.com
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