"Rory Talks Too Much": Ex-Agent Brands McIlroy a Media "Liability"…

Published on March 12th, 2026

Rory McIlroy’s former agent, Andrew ‘Chubby’ Chandler , has given his assessment of his former client ahead of The Masters next month and whether predicts how many majors he can finish his career on to become Golf's GOAT after and surpass Tiger Woods.

In a no-holds-barred interview Andrew doesn't mince his words when talking about Rory arguing that he "talks too much" and is a bigger liability than the Prime Minister and his perspective on the LIV fine controversy and what could be next in store for Bryson Dechambeau.

Elsewhere, he defends the LIV Tour claiming that it has "saved careers" and gives his opinion on whether there could be a future exodus of talent from the tour.

Rory’s Form

It should, shouldn't it? I mean, he 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. 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 it.

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.

Surpassing Tiger?

I'm sure he's looking at lots of things extending his stay at number one in the world, and how many more majors he can win. If he won five more, he'll have done well. If he wins 10 majors, he'll have done exceptionally well and will be the best European golfer ever.

Golf’s GOAT?

Rory definitely needs a couple more wins. I always felt guys like Seve Ballesteros were right up there with the best. He was a big-time player. He had everything, and the fact that he was a bit of a maverick as well was brilliant.

Seve wasn’t like Scheffler , and he wasn't even like Rory . He was a maverick, so we can talk about whether Rory can become the best European golfer ever. It's a pretty big thing.

“Rory Talks Too Much”

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. For a while, he was unbelievable. Everything he said, he had to go back and apologise for a month later, including his marriage.

My Advice

It’s not for me to say anymore. He started to pause and reconsidered what he was saying, but I don't know what his motivation was originally. He thought he was saving the game at one stage. He just talked a bit too much.

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.

LIV Fine Controversy

When you read all the quotes this week, Jon Rahm is probably right. He is being extorted, and so are some of the young kids. I think he's making a stand not just for himself but for some of the young, decent players on the LIV Tour, but it's a very complex situation, where we don’t know who is trying to do what.

That's been the irritating thing about LIV recently.” You don't know what the tour is trying to do. Because nobody seems to be progressing towards a resolution, which means nobody wants to. It can't be that difficult to resolve all this. You don't have to be Donald Trump to resolve all of this, do you?

I don't get what LIV are doing at all now. Bryson DeChambeau has got them where he wants them. However much money Bryson wants at the end of the year, they're going to have to pay him unless they don't want LIV to carry on.

DeChambeau’s Next Move

It's getting that way, isn't it? The incredible thing to me is how good it is for these young players. You've got these young players that have gone on there, people like Tom McKibbin and other really good young talents playing on the LIV Tour. It's really odd the way it's worked out. You can't deny that it's taken golf all over the place. Adelaide would never have got any other tournament as big as LIV there, which was a massive success, and you know these places they're going to now.

When LIV goes to South Africa next week, it will be massive because they haven't had a golf tournament like the one that's going to happen in two weeks' time or a week's time. So from that point of view, LIV is doing a great job.

LIV Has Saved Careers

Brooks went to LIV because he was injured. When he signed with LIV , he was taking the money because he wasn't sure what his future was going to be like. You can't blame him. Suddenly, they put £100 million under your nose, and you've had injury issues. It's hard to say no to that. It's like a pension. The other thing with LIV is that it has saved players’ careers.

Anthony Kim is a fantastic story. I saw Anthony at his best, and he was a proper player. To think he had gone down as far as he did and be able to come back and win the first time he had a chance. That was an amazing thing, wasn't it? That he actually won the first time he had a chance. That did LIV a lot of good, and along with DeChambeau , he's probably the biggest personality on the tour.

The Exodus

I'm sure they are, but I'll tell you one person who's played it really well is Patrick Reed . I think he's played it really well because he's actually not going to break any rules. He's playing in Europe . He's a little star in Europe . People like him because he looks like he's played the game. Then, suddenly, he can start taking invites on the PGA Tour , and by January, he'll have a tour card through Europe . I mean, how bizarre is that?

LIV gave Brooks Koepka the Brooks Koepka rule , didn't they? They made a special rule for him to be able to do it. Brooks plays like a lot of 30-year-old amateur golfers who would like to see the game played. He plays on the limit, and he's got bottle, so he's a great signing for the PGA Tour . He's given $5million to charity, but it's all tax-deductible anyway. It’s all smoke and mirrors that they're playing, isn't it? He’s not actually paying $5million.