Rory McIlroy - "Everyone Needs To Get Tested"

The world number one weighed in on the Coronavirus issue

Rory McIlroy - "Everyone Needs To Get Tested"

Rory McIlroy has weighed in on the Coronavirus issue after he was asked a question about what happens if one player or one caddie tested positive for the virus.

Latest: Coronavirus and Golf

"We need to shut it down then. Yeah, one, I mean, and that's the thing, more than anything else, we need to get, everyone needs to get tested. I don't know, I saw that obviously there's commercial labs now are testing at some capacity, I guess, but I think for us to keep playing on Tour, we all the Tour players and people that are involved need to get tested and make sure that no one's got it, because obviously everyone knows you can have it and not have symptoms and pass it on to someone that's more susceptible to getting very ill from it."

The Coronavirus has severely disrupted sport across the globe recently with the NBA, Premier League, Pro 14 and several other sporting governing bodies deciding to postpone or cancel events.

The PGA Tour also acted too. Originally the decision had been made to play The Players Championship with no fans however the situation has clearly escalated as the Tour decided to cancel the event and every other PGA Tour event through the Valero Texas Open.

Despite clear frustration from the players because most want to get out onto the course to compete, McIlroy and other professionals acknowledged it was definitely the right thing to do.

"It's a scary time, and I think that the PGA Tour have made a step in the right direction and I think we just have to play it by ear and take it day by day," said the Northern Irishman.

"You look at the trends and you look at everything that's happening across the rest of the world, it's in its infancy here in the United States, and yeah, it's going to get worse before it gets better.

"I think it's a hard one because you look at volunteers out here [at Sawgrass] and a lot of volunteers are in their sixties and seventies and retired and you don't want someone that's got the virus that passes it on to them and then they're susceptible.

"My mother's got respiratory issues and I certainly don't want to get something and pass it on to her and all of a sudden there's some sort of complication."

Latest: Coronavirus and Golf

The PGA Tour cancellations have called into question whether the 2020 Masters will take place at all let alone behind closed doors. Only time will tell.

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