Rory McIlroy Regrets Sawgrass

Rory McIlroy has revealed he dumped manager Andrew 'Chubby' Chandler because he felt he was 'being led down the wrong path'. 

The 22-year-old star made the decision in October last year and has gone from strength to strength, winning three times since the split and rising to second in the world rankings. 

McIlroy told irishgolfdesk.com: 'I felt like the path I was going down wasn't the path I wanted to go down.'

According to the website, McIlroy regretted giving up his PGA Tour card at the end of 2010 as well as not going to the Players Championship at Sawgrass under the influence of Chandler and International Sports Management stablemate Lee Westwood. 

On Sawgrass, McIlroy said: 'That's another example of being involved with Chubby and ISM and maybe being led down the wrong path, or a path that I didn't want to go down. It was something I sort of felt like I had to do.

'I think just spending a little bit of time around Chubby and Lee and hearing their view of the PGA Tour - obviously they're very pro-European Tour - while I've always been one who wanted to play on the PGA Tour. 

'Not playing Sawgrass was one of the decisions I look back on and regret a little bit.'

McIlroy is now managed by Dublin-based Horizon Sports Management.

Chandler, the larger-than-life boss of ISM, said last week that he is not bitter about losing young superstar McIlroy from his stable of top golfers.

On the eve of the US Masters at Augusta National - a tournament many believe the Ulsterman blew a year ago when, standing on the 10th tee with a one-shot lead, he hoiked his drive into the garden of one of the houses that border the fairway - Chandler admitted: 'I didn't really see it coming, but I don't think of what we might have missed.

'We had four-and-a-half years of helping to nurture an unbelievable talent. And, with our without ISM, Rory will become a great player. He will go on to win 10 majors, maybe more.'

The split came four months after McIlroy's major breakthrough, when he won the US Open at Congressional Country Club.