Mencap Northern Ireland has denied social media rumours that the golfer Rory McIlroy donated his Masters tournament prize money to the disability charity.

The Northern Irish golfer defeated Justin Rose in a play-off in Georgia’s Augusta National Golf Club on Monday, winning the 89th Masters and becoming the sixth man to win all four of golf’s major tournaments.

He took home £3.1m worth of prize money and became the first European golfer to win the Masters, PGA Championship, US Open and Open Championship.

Then social media posts shared across Facebook, X and Threads claimed that McIlroy had donated his prize money to Mencap, which supports people with learning disabilities and their families.

But Grainne Close, director of Mencap Northern Ireland, shared a statement on the charity’s social media pages, denying that any such donation had been received.

“Rory McIlroy has been a tremendous supporter of Mencap, supporting the build of our children’s centre in Belfast a few years ago,” Close said.

“However, we would like to clarify that reports stating he donated winnings from a recent tournament to Mencap are not accurate. We remain deeply grateful for his generosity and commitment to our cause and would like to congratulate him on his recent wins.”

McIlroy has previously worked with Mencap through his own charitable organisation, The Rory Foundation, which closed in 2019.

In December 2016, Mencap shared photos of McIlroy making his first visit to the Mencap Centre in Belfast, following a donation of £500,000 from the Rory Foundation to support the building of the facility, which officially opened in March 2016.

McIlroy took part in a tour of the nursery and a meet-and-greet with Mencap families, the then-director of Mencap Northern Ireland, Margaret Kelly, said at the time.

“The £500,000 donation from the Rory Foundation was a huge part of our success with the Big Step Forward Appeal and was vital in reaching our goal of £1.7m”, Kelly said.

“The Rory Foundation had a big hand in making this important centre a reality and we can’t thank Rory and his team enough for their generosity.”