Rory McIlroy has been accused of being the PGA Tour 's 'mouthpiece' amid the American-based circuit's ongoing battle with new-found rivals LIV Golf.
The PGA Tour and LIV have found themselves at war since the latter's inception at the Centurion Club last summer, in an ugly 10 months for professional golf. One man who has taken on a huge role in thwarting the Saudi-backed series is four-time major champion McIlroy.
On numerous occasions, the Northern Irishman has been quick to criticise LIV and its CEO Greg Norman, as the Tour have seemingly look to use McIlroy's popularity and power to their advantage.
The four-time major winner has proved key in keeping some of his fellow players on side, staging all-player meetings alongside Tiger Woods amid the ongoing LIV threat. One man who believes McIlroy may well have taken on too much though is his former agent Andrew 'Chubby' Chandler.
Speaking to iNews, he said: "To me he has got carried away as mouthpiece of the PGA Tour. He is doing things he shouldn’t be doing and opening his mouth too often." Many believe McIlroy's off-course dealings have since effected his performances on the course, especially after he missed the cut at last week's Masters.
The Northern Irishman split opinion when taking on an on-course interview during his opening round at the tournament. Whilst some felt the chat gave an amazing live insight into what it is like to compete at the famous event, others were quick to slam the idea, with it seemingly taking McIlroy's attention away from the job at hand.
One man who is firmly in the latter camp is Chandler, as he added: "The interview on the fairway [at the Masters], absolutely brilliant TV but not good for Rory McIlroy. You can’t be having a chat with a guy in the commentary box about the day and the way he is playing, or whatever, then get over a wedge and give it 100 per cent."
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Claiming it is something you would never see the great Woods or Jack Nicklaus do, the agent went on: "You would never have got [Jack] Nicklaus doing it. You would never have got Tiger [Woods] doing it. “If you could see into his head back in the days when he was flying around Augusta there was nothing in there other than hitting a golf ball.
"Now he has commitments with PGA Tour, where he has been groomed as a political figurehead, with TV, with half a dozen really big sponsors. And they take up time. He now has Workday [software company]. Workday put an add on TV, that will take a day of his time.
"That clutter manifests itself on the course. He needs to get away from a lot of that, and just trust his talent.” After missing the cut at Augusta last Saturday, McIlroy opted to skip this week's RBC Heritage, His withdrawal is set to be an expensive one though, with the Northern Irishman reportedly losing $3 million of his Player Impact Programme bonus after pulling out of his second elevated event of the season.
