In a viral video released by the European Tour on Friday, world No. 2 Rory McIlroy answered questions from 9-year-old "Little Billy" on a wide assortment of topics that varied from his decision to skip the Olympics to what golf clubs he might use in 2017.
McIlroy, who played along and was a good sport through it all, chuckled at nearly every question tossed his way, sometimes with an uncomfortable awkwardness that lent itself to the authenticity of the session. Some of the playful queries on serious topics included:
• If you're so tough, how come you're so scared of a little mosquito? (This came in reference to McIlroy skipping the Rio Olympics in August in part because of the Zika virus scare that has been linked to birth defects in children.) McIlroy replied that he was looking forward to having kids someday and "a few people used that excuse and I sort of jumped on the bandwagon."
• Who's your favorite girrrrrl tennis player? (McIlroy was expecting to marry former world No. 1 tennis player Caroline Wozniacki before he broke off the engagement in 2014.) After struggling to find an answer, McIlroy conceded, "Honestly, Billy, I've stopped following women's tennis the last couple of years."
• Showing a photo of some of McIlroy's past hairstyles, Billy asked, "What weeeere you thinking?" (It was a phase and I should have listened to my dad, came McIlroy's response.)
• Little Billy told the four-time major champ that he wanted to interview Tiger Woods next. The 9-year-old asked whether McIlroy could put in a good word for him with Woods.
"I'll put in a good word for you," McIlroy said. "I'd love to see you interview Tiger. I'd love to see that."
The youngster followed up by asking whether he should ask Woods for career advice or chat-up (pickup) lines.
"Chat-up lines," McIlroy said. "He's been pretty successful in both areas, but I don't see why you couldn't ask him both questions."
• In possibly the first time a U.S. president-elect and a former One Direction singer were mentioned in the same sentence, Little Billy posed the question, "Who tries the hardest to be your friend, Donald Trump or Niall Horan?"
"They both love golf," McIlroy answered. "I think that's a great thing. And because I'm good at it, it's nice to have a relationship. I'd say Trump tried a little harder than Niall did."
• With Nike exiting the golf club business and McIlroy a major endorser of the brand, Little Billy asked the Northern Irishman what kind of clubs he should get for Christmas if he wanted ones just like McIlroy's next year.
McIlroy deftly replied that Santa would know, stopping the kid in his tracks.
So what was McIlroy expecting from the cub reporter?
"It was a lot of fun," McIlroy said Saturday. "[I got a call] the week before and [was asked], how close to the bone can we go? And I said, look, I don't mind, you can go as close as you want. Wasn't quite expecting some of the questions that came up, but it was all in good fun."
McIlroy, who shot 68 in Round 3 of the DP World Tour Championship, where the interview with Little Billy occurred, scrambled as best he could considering the circumstances.
"I definitely had to put my thinking hat on a couple of times and try to wiggle out a couple of them as best I could," McIlroy said.
The interview, which aired Friday, ended with Little Billy offering an early wedding gift to McIlroy, who is engaged to American Erica Stoll. When McIlroy opened the box full of socks, he looked at Little Billy with a bemused expression.
"Just in case you get cold feet again," the 9-year-old said.