A Fresh Start?

You had to feel for both parties - McIlroy and Conor Ridge, the founder and manager of Horizon - during November's DP World Tour Championship.

Firstly, there was McIlroy unburdening his soul about how no athlete should have to go through what he had been through since he initiated the split: "It’s something that shouldn’t be in my mind. I’ve seen more lawyers’ offices and more lawyers this year than I care to see in my entire life. It’s not something I ever want to go through again and I’m making sure that I won’t ever have to go through it again." [To him, a more family-based management team is a sure answer - and never mind that that arrangement never really worked for the late Seve Ballesteros and his band of brothers.]

"As a golfer," continued McIlroy, "you want your mind as clear as possible and it’s obviously hard for that to happen if you’ve got other things that are going on."

Elsewhere, Conor Ridge’s pale face told its own story. With court proceedings looming, he had more sense than to want to discuss his side of things with the media. Yet everyone knows how it was McIlroy who approached him rather than vice versa when he wanted to leave Chubby Chandler’s International Sports Management (ISM) group. (Chandler, incidentally, is still scratching his head as to why the young star deserted him.)

Graeme McDowell, McIlroy’s great friend, had recommended Horizon and, for Horizon, the acquisition of the player who would top the rankings on both sides of the Atlantic in 2012 was quite the coup.

Around that time, there were a couple of other high-profile players who were keen to move under the Horizon umbrella but, in a move which he must now regret, Ridge turned both away. He felt that with McIlroy on his books he would not be able to give them the attention they deserved.