Since the $10 million appearance fee comment for the DP World India Championship, Kevin Kisner and Rory McIlroy have found themselves back in the spotlight. This time, however, neither has taken a shot at the other. Instead, it’s McIlroy’s former manager, Andrew ‘Chubby’ Chandler, who has weighed in on the debate. During an interview with BetBrothers, Chandler sided with Kisner.
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“They’re all singing off the same hymn sheet. Not one of them will say, ‘I’m here because I’ve got paid $500,000 to be here,’” Chandler said during the interview. “Rory could put a nought on that… It’s true [what Kisner said], so I don’t think he’d be surprised. I think he’d be chuckling and thinking, ‘Well, of course that’s why I’m here. And he can’t say anything else either.
“He’s not going to turn around and say, ‘I’m here because I’m getting paid millions of dollars.’ He’s going to say to the press, ‘I’m here to spread the game.’… I have no idea how much those two facilities he’s got will cost, but it will be multi-million dollars, and probably in that deal will be that he has to play in two DP World tournaments or something.
“That’s probably why he’s in India; that’s probably part of the same deal. If that’s the case, then the DP World Tour will grow exponentially like DP World will.”
Of course, this comes after the World No. 2 went to India for the DP World India Championship earlier this month for the second consecutive time. Before the event began, Rory McIlroy appeared in Bloomberg New Economic Forum in New Delhi, where he claimed that his intention behind his participation is to develop the sport in the country. However, Kisner wasn’t buying it and branded it “dogs**t.”
As far as Kisner was concerned, McIlroy was competing in India because “he wants to get his $10 million” and not because he wants “to globally expand in India.” In response to Kisner’s comments, the six-time major champion asked, “How would he know?” McIlroy argued that both things can be true, and he can be earning a substantial amount for making an appearance while also wanting to compete in growing markets such as India.
However, for a man who has significantly scaled back his schedule to spend more time with his family, traveling all the way to India seemed to lend some weight to Kisner’s comments. Despite his decision to compete, McIlroy failed to make a significant impact, finishing tied for 42nd. But Andrew ‘Chubby’ Chandler, who parted ways with McIlroy in 2011 after the Northern Irishman felt his career was heading in the wrong direction and wanted a fresh perspective, had plenty more to say about McIlroy.
Chandler explains why Rory McIlroy never joined LIV Golf
When LIV Golf emerged, Rory McIlroy was among the league’s most vocal critics. His willingness to compete in India for an appearance fee, however, raises an obvious question: if the Northern Irishman is open to such deals, why did he never consider signing with LIV Golf? Andrew ‘Chubby’ Chandler believes the answer lies in the bigger financial picture and the sponsorship opportunities McIlroy could have lost by joining the rebel league.
“It goes back to being a business and making your money how you make it,” Chandler said. “One of the reasons Rory wouldn’t sign for LIV would be the fact that he can make enough money without being paid $300 million by LIV. That was the balance they all had: how much they got offered and how much they can make without it.
“Now, if Rory had signed with LIV, he wouldn’t have got the deals that he’s got now. DP World and those sorts of deals. He wouldn’t have got them if he was a LIV player. The LIV players haven’t got massive sponsorships because LIV wouldn’t let them have them.”
Chandler also believes the DP World Tour has, in some ways, stepped into the role LIV Golf once hoped to fill by expanding golf’s global reach.
“In a funny sort of way, DP World [is] taking over from where PIF was,” he said. “DP World [is] beginning to spread the word around [about] golf. To me, if DP World follows the trend now, they should sponsor a lot of national Opens. You should have the DP World Spanish Open, you should have the DP World French Open, and that would do an awful lot. Now they’ve got Rory as a flag bearer. That also would work.”
The DP World Tour has, of course, entered a strategic alliance with the PGA Tour. As part of the arrangement, the PGA Tour provides financial backing and subsidies to support DP World Tour prize funds and facilitate annual purse growth. In return, the American circuit acquired an equity stake in European Tour Productions, which produces and distributes coverage of the DP World Tour, the Ryder Cup, and other events.
The PGA Tour’s stake will increase from 15% to 40% by the end of 2027.