Rory McIlroy announced Thursday that he will be taking a sabbatical from the tour to focus on his lawsuit against his former management company, Horizon Sports.

 

What is anticipated to be a lengthy legal battle between these two, McIlroy will miss the BMW Masters at the end of October and the WGC-HSBC Championships in November as a result (possibly more).

 

"I'm going to need time away from tournament golf to prepare for the trial over my legal dispute with Horizon Sports Management," McIlroy said. "The court-directed mediation process failed over the weekend to resolve the issue."

According to McIlroy in an interview with Forbes, he was with Horizon Sports for two years, before deciding to leave in 2013 to pursue his own company and upon his release, Horizon took advantage of his youth as well as his lack of business wisdom.

 

Due to the court's failure to create an agreement between both parties the court case will be pushed further into February 2014.

 

With high hopes, this lengthy dispute will before the Masters

in April.

 

Details of the court case:

 

The agreed-upon commissions entitled Horizon Sports Management to a 20% fee on all off-the-course income received by McIlroy. The golfer claims that the excessive commissions result in an unconscionable contract and that an athlete of McIlroy’s stature should not have to pay more than 7% to an agent as a result of earnings from endorsement deals.

 

He alleges that he was young, naive and failed to have the support of legal counsel when he executed the agreement containing such a compensation structure. Horizon is countering by suing for a reported $3 million for a breach of contract.

 

(Source: Golf Illustrated)