World No. 1 Rory McIlroy is annoyed a court battle with a former management company continues to linger but is confident it won’t affect his preparations for next year’s Masters.
McIlroy is returning the competition after a six-week break at this week’s European Tour season-ending DP World Tour Championship in Dubai.
However the 24-year old will tee up Thursday on the Jumeriah Estates course having captured the European Tour No. 1 crown given McIlroy’s nearest rival in Sweden’s Henrik Stenson, and last year’s European No. 1, cannot surpass McIlroy.
This week’s event is McIlroy’s penultimate tournament of the year ahead of winding-up his most successful season with the defence of his Australian Open title next week in Sydney.
Rory McIlroy speaking at today’s press conference in Dubai and saying he’s ‘annoyed’ the course case against Horizon Sport continues. (Photo – www.europeantour.com)
McIlroy has been present in the UAE for nearly two weeks during which time he has continued to be briefed on dispute involving a reputed $100m deal he signed with sports giant Nike in January 2013 that he hopes will be settled early next year in the Dublin High Court.
Both McIlroy’s Rory McIlroy Inc and the Dublin-based Horizon Sports Management remain at irretrievable odds, after McIlroy first launched litigation and was counter-sued by Horizon Sports. Fellow US Open champion Graeme McDowell, who is managed by Horizon Sports and McIlroy’s long-running caddy J P Fitzgerald have since been drawn into the matter.
It is believed that McIlroy will contest the 10th anniversary Abu Dhabi HSBC Championship mid-January 2015 but could miss the Omega Dubai Desert Classic, which starts on Jan 29th.
And McIlroy is keen any prospective trial does not run into either late February, when he is due to play in the Honda Classic in his adopted home town of West Palm Beach, and also into March that would affect plans for April’s Masters and his quest to become only the sixth golfer to have won all four Majors.
“I’m annoyed that it’s still going on,” he said today in Dubai.
“But again, it is what it is. I’ve been saying that a lot recently; it is what it is. I can’t do anything about it.
“We tried our best a few weeks ago to come to some sort of resolution and it didn’t work.
“It’s not the best thing to be going through, but at the end of the day, it will be over and done with a good bit before I have to go down Magnolia Lane in April and that’s fine by me, as long as I’ve got a clear head going there, I’m happy with that.
“I’m not concerned at this stage it will affect my preparations for the Masters, as I’m not intending missing anything that I would normally play anyway.”
And McIlroy brushed off concerns that if the matter does go to court intricate details of his multi-million dollar contract with Nike, and the issue at the heart of the problem, will be known to everyone.
“I’m actually not sure if I’m bound confidentiality‑wise to talk about it as I just had to get a few things tied up and it had to be done by a certain deadline,” he said.
“But yeah, it’s something that’s just a part of it. It’s not like I’m worried in any way, because I definitely don’t feel like I’ve done anything wrong. But yeah, that is ‑‑ it’s not ideal, of course. But that’s the nature of it and yeah, it is what it is.”
