WATCH: President Donald Trump praises Rory McIlroy during meeting with Irish Prime Minister: "I love Rory"

During a political meeting at the White House, President Donald Trump praised Rory McIlroy. The golfer wasn't present and this wasn't a golf-related meeting, of which there have been some of late, but the Irishman got name-dropped by the leader of the USA.

In a meeting with Irish Prime Minister Michael Martin, President Trump said:

"I love Rory! I think Rory's great, he's a great golfer. He just won two weeks ago, he's a great guy. I played golf with him three weeks ago and he's really a fantastic player."

The praise didn't end there, though, as the US president espoused love for McIlroy for nearly 30 full seconds during the meeting:

"He's in good form, too. When he played with me, he played very well I can tell you. Rory is certainly one of the favorites, he's always going to be one. He's a very talented guy, he's a very good person, too."

McIlroy has been involved with the PIF x PGA Tour merger, but he did not attend the meetings between Tiger Woods, Adam Scott, Jay Monahan and Donald Trump with regard to the negotiations.

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Rory McIlroy expressed hope that Donald Trump would help golf

When Donald Trump was elected, Rory McIlroy said he was hopeful that his election would signal some progress in the PIF merger with the PGA Tour, saying his administration might be a little more friendly to it.

Rory McIlroy has hope for the merger with Donald Trump involved (Image via Imagn)

Now, with Trump directly involved, McIlroy has even more hope. About a month ago, the Irishman said via BBC:

"The President, he can do a lot of things. He has direct access to Yasir [Al-Rumayyan, governor of the PIF]'s boss [Mohammed bin Salman]. Not many people have that."

He said not many people can have such influence over both sides of a complex discussion, but that the president can and that he is "influential." McIlroy added:

"He [Trump] can be influential. I saw it when I was playing with Sheikh Hamdan of Abu Dhabi [on] the day [Trump] got elected in November. I don't think people appreciate how much respect he has [in the Middle East]."

McIlroy said that people in the Middle East listen when Trump says something, and that's a "big thing" for potential negotiations between the two sides of professional golf.