After a meltdown at the Arnold Palmer Invitational, Rory McIlroy’s former agent has rendered an opinion on whether the star will perform well for the rest of the year.
The Northern Irishman was quick to respond to Andrew “Chubby” Chandler, the former manager and golf agent of Rory McIlroy, who made the shocking claim that his former client appears “disinterested” in the game because of the emotional toll of his leadership role within the PGA Tour.
At the Players Championship, McIlroy got off to a scorching start, shooting five under par on the back nine. The former world number one’s quick start will come as a huge boost, as Scottie Scheffler, who won the Arnold Palmer Invitational last weekend by a five-shot margin, prevented him from regaining the top spot. After a six-under-par back nine on Saturday at Bay Hill Club and Lodge, there was a lot of optimism that the four-time major winner was going to win.
Any cause for hope, though, was short-lived as McIlroy returned to the course the next day and opened with a dismal four-over-par round of 76. He ultimately finished a wild weekend performance about 14 shots behind the victorious Scheffler.
Now, 34-year-old Chandler’s former representative Chandler has acknowledged that he believes the 34-year-old’smindis not on the task at hand in 2024. In light of his fall in Florida and his current state of mind, McIlroy’s former agent disclosed to BetIdeas: “I think Rory looks uninterested.”
“He appears unfocused. Right now, it seems like the previous year really taxed him, and then all of a sudden, he was let down and is struggling to get back up. That’s how it appears to me. His eyes lack both a twinkle and a spark.”
“He had about an hour and a half on the Saturday afternoon where he was like the old Rory, but you know that bouncy step he has when he’s playing well, it’s not there and I’m sure that year out of his life, or 18 months, took its toll,” Chandler continued, expressing his belief that the two-time PGA Championship winner has lost a certain spark.
The director of International Sports Management said, “And don’t forget with Rory, he’s got a lot of cash,” while speculating about the reasons the superstar hasn’t been able to reach the heights of prior years in 2024 and drawing comparisons to Tiger Woods. “The others don’t have billions, but he and Tiger do. I don’t think anyone could play as hard as he does with a billion dollars.
Chandler continued by asking if he thought his former client could summon some of the magic that has helped him win four majors over the years. McIlroy is playing in the Players Championship this week in an attempt to win at TPC Sawgrass for the first time since 2019.
His former representative went on: “It appears that he is finding the game tedious. He missed it at both the Arnold Palmer and the PGA National last week, which are two good events for him. Before making the statement, “It will be interesting to see how fired up he gets this week,” it is concerning.
Not content to stop there, the man referred to by his fans as “Chubby” also shared his thoughts on McIlroy’s meteoric rise to prominence as one of the main characters in Netflix’s “Full Swing.” “Rory was front and center of Full Swing,” he continued. How he failed to recognize that he was experiencing that is beyond me.
Because Nicklaus or Tiger wouldn’t have done it, he was either getting paid well for it or he enjoyed having his quotes displayed constantly. They wouldn’t have given up a whole year of their lives, and he’s not even American, to compete for a spot on the PGA Tour by playing below his potential.”
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