The answer was delivered with a laugh but there was truth behind it. Why is Rory McIlroy so confident that a heavy distraction, namely the climax to his legal dispute with his former management company, Horizon Sports Management, won’t affect his golf in the lead-up to the Masters?
“I have got used to it [the distractions],” McIlroy said. “That’s what it is. I am better at compartmentalising between stuff that is happening off the course and being able to focus on what’s going on on the course. It is just something that has been part of my life for the last couple of years, so that’s why I handle it better now.”
There is evidence behind McIlroy’s claim. He has swapped managers, equipment, jilted his fiancee and finds himself as the No1 player in world golf. At Augusta next April he will seek to complete a grand slam of major championships before the age of 26.
Still, this legal affair is highly significant. McIlroy recently withdrew from two high-profile events in China to prepare for a trial which remains likely to take place in Dublin’s commercial court in the new year.
“I had to get a few things tied up and it had to be done by a certain deadline,” said McIlroy of his absence from the BMW Masters and WGC-HSBC Champions tournaments. “So there was a lot of time that I needed to put into what I had to do. It went until the Tuesday of the HSBC event, something like that. So I could have gone there but I would have been totally ill-prepared to play and there is no reason to go to an event without having your best stuff there.
“It was frustrating because I would have preferred to have been playing golf, that’s for sure. But these things happen and there was an opportunity before these events to put it all to bed and it didn’t quite work out. So then there was extra work needed from my side to get a few things done, to get ready.”
Indeed, two days of mediation between the two parties last month failed to resolve what is a multi-million pound issue. “Of course I am annoyed that it is still going on,” McIlroy admitted. “But it is what it is. I have 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 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 have a clear head going there, I’m happy with that.”
Concern over sensitive information, particularly relating to finances, entering the public domain would only be natural from McIlroy’s side. “That’s something that is just a part of it,” he said. “It’s not like I am worried in any way because I definitely don’t feel like I have done anything wrong. But that’s not ideal, of course.”
McIlroy, who ends his European Tour season this week at the DP World Tour Championship, plans to return to the Middle East for events in Abu Dhabi and Dubai in January. “I’m not missing anything that I would normally play,” McIlroy said.
Pressed as to whether his Horizon case with be over before or after that desert swing, he added: “Your guess is as good as mine.”
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