Rory Heads To Court To Battle Over Commission Fees
/Ian Mallon and Breda Heffernan report that Rory McIlroy's legal team has filed papers in a Dublin court to fire the first salvo in what is expected to be a dispute over money with his (now) former agents at Horizon Sports.
This ought to be good for his game:
It is understood that Horizon will be seeking compensation from McIlroy, as he ended his five-year contract after just two years.
The two-time major champion paid €5m (£4.1m) to Horizon in just 18 months before deciding to exit the contract.
It is believed that the sportsman from Holywood, Co Down, was deeply unhappy with some of the terms of the contract, despite the fact that he willingly signed up to it in the first place.
He was reportedly paying up to one-fifth in commission on certain earnings and felt that this was too much.
Announcing his split from Horizon, McIlroy said his business interests would now be handled by his own firm, Rory McIlroy Incorporated (RMI).
**In other Rory news, Eimear Rabbitte says "eyebrows were raised" when the 24-year-old missed Graeme McDowell's small party Bahamas wedding.
**Judging by some of the details in Brian Keogh's assessment, this is going to be a tense fight with Horizon digging in and refuting claims of exorbitant fees.
Conor Ridge was unavailable for comment having travelled to the US for Graeme McDowell’s wedding, which took place on Saturday.
However, a statement issued on Horizon’s website last Friday left no doubt as to their intentions.
“Since October 2011, Horizon has achieved exceptional results for Rory in realising his commercial objectives. Under Horizon’s management, Rory has signed some of the most lucrative endorsements in sports history. The current management contract has a number of years to run. Rory’s decision to seek a termination of the management contract with Horizon is now regrettably in the hands of legal advisors. Horizon will be making no further comment.”
McIlroy made almost on-course news by revealing he will be playing in Dubai next January and the Scottish Open in July. Derek Lawrenson reports.
