DORAL, Fla. — On Friday, in a moment of frustration, Rory McIlroy heaved his 3-iron into the lake adjacent to the eighth hole during the second round of the WGC-Cadillac at Trump Doral.
On Saturday, a scuba diver retrieved the offending club from the lake.
And on Sunday, when McIlroy arrived to the driving range to warm up for his final round, Donald Trump presented him with his missing 3-iron in a playful exchange.
Trump told McIlroy of the club toss incident that drew a lot of attention: “I loved it. It shows a certain human touch to do that.’’
McIlroy put the club in his bag for use in his final round, but the plan is for him to give it to Trump, who said he’s either going to auction the club off to raise charity dollars or have it mounted in the clubhouse to commemorate the moment.
“Rory’s a great story, a great athlete, a great player and everything he does is news,’’ Trump said. “I’d love to mount it, because it represents how hard the golf course is. And it was a big story for two days — first the throw and then the scuba diver. That scuba diver has become much bigger than Trump.
“I don’t know where they got that scuba diver from, but he was straight from Central Casting.’’
Asked if he has all tossed clubs fished out of the lake, Trump said, “I don’t usually have a scuba diver go in to find clubs — not even mine.’’
Asked how many clubs he’s tossed in frustration, Trump said: “Too many to count … but none in that lake. That hole is so hard I assume I’m going to hit in the water.’’