Rory McIlroy’s lawyers held negotiations with his former agent at Horizon Sports Management in an effort to resolve their multi-million-dollar lawsuit before the trial begins this week.
The sides met for five hours at the High Court complex in Dublin, Ireland, on Tuesday and the case was adjourned until Wednesday morning.
“It’s not something you want hanging over your head and it’s not something I’d want anyone to go through; it’s not a nice process,” said McIlroy, who captured the Omega Dubai Desert Classic on Sunday.
“It’s a shame it’s gone this far and that two sides see things completely differently. The only way to sort it out is to get a judge to come in and tell us what to do.”
McIlroy, who is No. 1 in the World Golf Rankings, is suing Dublin-based Horizon Sports Management and its leading agent, Conor Ridge, claiming he was misled into signing a contract with the company.
Judge Brian Cregan said progress had been made in the negotiations and has agreed to allow further last-minute talks to try to avoid a long and costly trial. The case was expected to last eight weeks, with McIlroy on the stand for perhaps two weeks.
McIlroy, accompanied by business executive Barry Funston, who oversees the Rory’s charity work, and his cousin, Brian McIlroy, arrived at the courthouse wearing a dark suit and glasses.
The suit alleges that McIlroy signed the contract at Horizon’s Christmas party “in circumstances of great informality,” and without having seen a draft of the agreement before it was given to him to sign.
Horizon counter-sued, claiming McIlroy owes the company millions of dollars in commissions.
McIlroy left Horizon to form his own management company in 2013.
