Three-time PGA Tour winner Kevin Kisner has been roundly condemned by social media users over a shocking tweet he sent to former basketball player Rex Chapman.

Chapman, who played for the Charlotte Hornets, Washington Bullets, Miami Heat and Phoenix Suns in a 12-year NBA career, tweeted his frustration at the handling of the COVID-19 pandemic by the American government to his near one million followers.

He wrote: "My friends parents have died from Covid & Covid related issues. My parents are in & out of the hospital. One of my kids tested positive for Covid today.

"Forgive me if I’m upset over 200,000 dead when the President told us 6-months ago we would be down to 0 cases 'in a few days'."

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Replying to that tweet, Kisner wrote: "Guess they can’t follow the guidelines."

He has since deleted the tweet - some four hours after posting it - but not before it was screenshotted and widely shared on social media.

Chapman replied to say "I gotta block ya now" but other social media users were far pointed with their responses to the world No.30.

Stand down big fella....he’s tweeting about ppl dying. You don’t know if they followed the guidelines or not or if they caught an unlucky break. Don’t be a dick.
— Paul Regali (@TheGhostofhogan) September 12, 2020

Man, Kiz, I’d expected better from you. When your political opinions get in the way of being able to feel sorry that someone’s family is sick—regardless of their political opinions—you’ve got a problem.
— Ryan (@ryhibb) September 12, 2020

Real classy Kevin...tosser
— Never Up Never On (@neverupneveron) September 12, 2020

Lost major respect for Kiz. @PGATOUR @ForePlayPod
— Danny (@qdanny) September 12, 2020

Who says they were not? Perhaps they were distancing, maybe others were not. The mask is effective in stopping the wearer from passing it on, not the other way around. Aside from if being an incredibly classless comment, it is wildly uninformed as well.
— Tony Daggett (@TonyDaggett_IAF) September 12, 2020

as well as lacking empathy, you lack intelligence. the guidelines are to give you the best chance to not contract the virus - not to make you immune. if you can’t understand that, god help you and anyone with which you’ve been in contact.
— drewka doncic (@werdthomas) September 12, 2020

What a disgusting thing to say. I thought you were better than this. Guess I was wrong.
— Da Macker (@macker_da) September 12, 2020

That’s pretty crass and heartless, Kevin. I took you as a standup, person with empathy. I hope no people you care about ever have a tragic event - or at least you’d care about them.
— GolfDawg (@dawg_golf) September 12, 2020