Rory McIlroy Claims Oakley Is Harrassing Him

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Besides going to trial next year against his now-former agent Conor Ridge, Rory McIlory also faces a claim from Oakley over the end of his arrangement with the apparel manufacturer and has filed his own documents suggesting the company has been harrassing him over the end of their deal.

And it gets better. Brian Keogh summarizes the utterly bizarre situation, working off Colm Keena's Irish Times story:

When the case first came to light last December, it appeared that it would be quickly resolved in McIlroy’s favour after his then-agent, Conor Ridge, produced an email exchange he’d had with a sports marketing executive at Oakley named Pat McIlvain.

According to reports of the initial case last December 14, McIlvain sent an email to Ridge that said: “Understood. We are out of the mix. No contract for 2013. Pat Mac.”

Now it appears that McIlroy’s best defence against Oakley is the credibility of Ridge and Horizon, the people he has accused of tricking him into “an improvident and unconscionable bargain” and lack of “fiduciary duty of responsibility.”

English: Time To "Slap" McIlroy

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Strong stuff from Tom English as usual, this time coming to Brandel Chamblee's defense and in a bad sign for Rory McIlroy, a strong UK press attack on the young lad's rationale for exempting Tiger from criticism.

English writes:

He questioned Chamblee’s “authority” to say “anything like that” about his pal. Then this: “People wouldn’t know who Brandel Chamblee was if it wasn’t for Tiger Woods.”

At that point, you’d have to administer the slap.

Is Rory saying that anybody with reservations about Woods’ on-course behaviour this year should hush their noise because, well, he made us all and we should be eternally grateful? Is that it? Is every golf analyst to turn a blind eye because, hey, they’d be irrelevant without him? Such a lot of nonsense from McIlroy. It’s not less scrutiny that Woods needs. Quite obviously, it is more.

WSJ: Most Of China's Golfers Have Never Set Foot On A Course

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With Monday's "Match at Mission Hills" featuring Tiger Woods and Rory McIlroy, John Paul Newport looks at golf in China and shares some staggering numbers.

Of course, the numbers are estimates...

These days there are roughly 600 courses in China and possibly one million golfers: estimates vary. Townend puts the figure at 700,000 and guesses that half have only hit balls at practice ranges—of which there are several thousand—never on a course.

"The average annual salary in China is something like $2,100 and the average cost to play golf is around $150 a round," said Dan Washburn, an American journalist who lived for several years in China and wrote "The Forbidden Game: Golf and the Chinese Dream" due next spring. "Golf isn't even on the mind of the average Chinese person. It's perceived as a rich man's game, and that's true, more so in China probably than anywhere else in the world."

Speaking of rich guys, the Back Nine Network is streaming the match except in the U.S., citing PGA Tour rules forbidding anything hosted by Ahmad Rashad to be censored.

That's a shame since last year's match featured arguably the best TV moment of the year when Tiger openly admitted his struggles with Sean Foley's swing ideas and dropped some colorful language in describing how he was hitting his short irons.

It was as if they didn't know they were being recorded!

Golf.com has posted a slideshow of the Blackstone Course at Mission Hills where the event will be played.

Did A Tweeted Photo Of Rory's Nap Lead To A Wozilroy Break-Up?

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The Irish Independent's Niamh Horan is anonymously quoting friends of Rory McIlroy who say his long-term and highly public relationship with Caroline Wozniacki is over.

The "friends" say the final straw may have been a September 16th Tweeted photo of Rory having a wee nap.

Friends say a photograph posted by Caroline on Twitter, which showed her boyfriend in a deep sleep, was one of the final straws for the number-one golfer.

One source said: "Rory was very upset by it and even Serena Williams pointed out – albeit in a joking way – it was a pretty mean thing to do."

The relationship ended days after the picture had been posted to millions of fans online. But friends say Caroline is still struggling to accept that the pair have split up.

There had been rumors of a split in late August but the Caroline reaffirmed her social media vows by changing her profile photo to a couples shot.

The offending photo: