Rory's surprise agent switch

McIlroy leaving Chubby's stable was a shock. Plus, shoulder joy at last!

LOT of people have asked me why Rory McIlroy has left Chubby Chandler and International Sports Management and the honest answer is I don’t know. Being part of Chubby’s stable, I am as surprised as anyone and you would think that Rory would still appreciate Chubby’s advice on lots of things.

Obviously ISM has got a lot bigger this year, having won three of the first four Majors, but I still manage to speak with Chubby a few times a month. Ernie Els left earlier in the year and there are still Lee Westwood and Darren Clarke so Rory might want to be the No 1 in the Horizon stable, I really don’t know.

Chubby doesn’t do deals on paper. I don’t have a contract so if they don’t want to work with me then they can say they have had enough and vice versa. The verbal contract is quite simple, it’s 20 per cent of endorsements and five per cent of prize money.

Some managers go for less on the prize money and more on the sponsorship but that is generally the norm and it seems to work pretty well.

Thankfully I have managed to start picking up a bit of money lately and, for the first time in what seems like forever, my shoulder has been pain-free.

Spain has always been pretty good to me – my win came in Madrid a couple of years ago – and it was great to lead after the first round in the Madrid Masters with a 64.

More than anything it was a sign that I could still shoot low as I have been starting rounds well and then tailing off as my body let me down. Previously my best round was a 67 so it was a real sign of progress – but then, as the week went on, I got slowly worse.

Then, at the Castello Masters, the shoulder was great all week.

The Pro Golf Health team work with the likes of Graeme McDowell, the Molinari brothers and Robert Karlsson and they have been brilliant this year.

I have also seen a lot of specialists and found out a lot of nutritional things; for example, cow’s milk is no good for me and these sort of things make it harder to recover from injuries. So I am now on a strict plan and it seems to be working.

For the second time in three weeks I led after the first round thanks to another 64.

A holed 4 iron helped – I heard one clap and then nothing else so didn’t think too much about it – as well as playing a course where I didn’t have to hit too many drivers.

You could play it very aggressively or conservatively and it suited me to do the latter. I’m hitting the driver OK but am probably still at only 60 per cent.

Sergio is great to play with as he’s easy going like me. A lot of the guys treat it like a job and are very single-minded. I find I play better when I’m the opposite.

It was then frustrating to pick up a bug on the last day. I was on the bus ahead of being in the last group on Sunday with Sergio Garcia when I started feeling very nauseous.

I felt pretty lousy for most of the last round and felt like I might throw up at any point but I managed to get round and a first top 10 of the year was the result.

I would have loved to have done a bit better but it was still exciting to be back in the last group over the weekend and to play alongside Sergio for two days.

That said, it probably made me feel like a worse golfer than I already felt like; he was pretty special and you would have to say very near his best. I think he’s like all golfers; it comes in waves and his putting has definitely improved, but I’m sure there are things away from the course that affect that as well.

Sergio is great to play with as he’s easy going like me. A lot of the guys treat it like a job and are very single-minded. I find I play better when I’m the opposite.

I like to have a good chat and so does Sergio – he always likes to commentate on his playing partners’ shots and it’s very encouraging. I would imagine I am a bit different to plenty on tour as I like to see everyone playing well. It’s probably a bit of a karma thing.

Thankfully this is a longer season than most so I’m not thinking too much about my card. Everyone keeps asking me but I’m just happy to be playing pain-free golf.

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By Ross McGowan
on 16 January 2012

Rory's surprise agent switch

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