Rory McIlroy may be one of the most popular athletes in the world, but the five-time major winner has been compared to Sir Keir Starmer by his former agent
Rory McIlroy’s former agent has compared the five-time major winner to prime minister Sir Keir Starmer. Andrew “Chubby” Chandler managed McIlroy from his professional debut in 2007 until they parted ways in October 2011.
McIlroy left Chandler’s International Sports Management (ISM) agency as he felt he was being steered in the wrong direction. The Holywood golfer moved on to join fellow Northern Irishman Graeme McDowell at Horizon Sports Management, but that partnership only lasted two years.
Chandler is confident McIlroy can reach double digits in terms of majors, but believes he needs to retreat from the limelight occasionally. The Northern Irishman has often used any media platform granted to him to air his views about certain subjects, particularly when LIV Golf started changing the golf landscape.
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Speaking to BOYLE Sports, Chandler believes McIlroy, who will defend his Masters title next month, needs to do less public speaking and keep many of his thoughts to himself. Chandler said: “Rory talks too much, but he’s an absolute gift for the media.
“If he gets a microphone in his hands, he’s a liability in terms of saying anything. He’s more of a liability than the Prime Minister.
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“For a while, he was unbelievable. Everything he said, he had to go back and apologise for a month later, including his marriage. Rory just needs to calm down a bit – he thought he was saving the game at one stage but he just talked too much.
“He started to pause and reconsidered what he was saying but I don’t know what his motivation was originally. But I suppose when you’re Rory McIlroy and you constantly have a microphone in front of you. It’s very difficult to refuse it. So I understand. You’re just telling him to calm down a bit.”
Following his Masters triumph to complete the grand slam last year, McIlroy confessed he found it difficult to stay motivated in the subsequent months. He rediscovered his form with a brilliant victory at the Irish Open before enjoying team success at the Ryder Cup in New York at the year’s end.
McIlroy has displayed flashes of brilliance in 2026, but a concerning back problem has cast doubt over his appearance at The Players Championship this week. Chandler believes the current world number two will add to his haul of five majors – and potentially double that figure.
“Rory should play a bit more freely. It shouldn’t be life and death. My guess is that he’ll win another five majors. I don’t think he’ll get to 15 majors, but I think he’ll get to 10,” the Englishman said.
“At the end of the day, one of the things you’ve got to factor in is how many majors Scottie Scheffler is going to get. Rory is 36 so if he’s got six really good years left in him, that’s 24 chances to win more majors.
“You would think Scottie is going to win at least six of them. So, the analogy is that players like Ernie Els and, for that matter, Lee Westwood, struggled to win majors when Tiger Woods was in his prime because he won so many of them.
“It’s a similar situation now; it’s easy to say Rory might win a certain number of majors, but if he’s consistently going head-to-head with Scottie Scheffler, he won’t win as many.”
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