Golf-Legal worries a distraction in tough 2013, says McIlroy

Legal problems were a distraction which affected his golf this year, former world number one Rory McIlroy said on Tuesday as he prepared to defend the World Tour Championship title he won in sizzling style last year.

The 24-year-old from Northern Ireland birdied the final five holes in Dubai 12 months ago to claim his second tour title of the year and finish top of both the European and U.S. money lists.

In a barren 2013, however, he has tumbled to sixth in the world rankings.

That slump followed McIlroy's sponsorship switch to Nike in January, which prompted a former sponsor, American sportswear company Oakley, to launch legal action against him.

In September he terminated his contract with Dublin-based Horizon Sports Management to form his own management company and the acrimonious split has now reached the courts.

"It's something that I don't really think any athlete or anyone should ever go through," McIlroy told reporters.

"I've seen more lawyers' offices and more lawyers this year than I care to see in my entire life. It's not something I ever want to go through again and I'm making sure that I won't ever go through it again."

The twice major winner said his legal worries did not directly result in him hitting specific bad shots.

"But as a golfer you want your mind as clear as possible, and it's obviously hard for that to happen if you've got other things that are going on that, firstly, you don't want to happen, and secondly you don't feel should be happening. It's been a distraction," McIlroy said.

He is ranked a lowly 46th in the Race to Dubai - the European Order of Merit - and has no chance of topping the money list for a second year, but the 2011 U.S. Open and 2012 U.S. PGA champion was upbeat about his prospects of claiming a first tour title of 2013 at the $8 million Dubai event.

"If I can drive the ball well and drive it long and straight, it gives me a huge advantage over most of the field and it's something that when I'm on my game, I can really take advantage of, and I was able to do that last year," added McIlroy.

"This is a perfect golf course for that. If you can carry it over 300 yards, you've got a huge advantage on some of the guys here, and it's something I'll be trying to do this week."

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Golf-One unified global tour coming, predicts Kuchar

The PGA and European Tours may soon join forces to create one unified global golf circuit, world number eight Matt Kuchar predicted on Tuesday, a move which could address scheduling complaints from top players.

The American believes the Asian and Australian Tours could also figure in the unified circuit, which was first mooted by golf great Greg Norman in the 1990s.

"I absolutely do see the PGA Tour, the European Tour, the Asian Tour, the Australian Tour somehow turning into some sort of global world tour," Kuchar told reporters in Melbourne on Tuesday ahead of this week's Australian Masters.

"I think it will be in my time.

"I think it seems like it's coming quicker in this last year ... we may all be saying Greg Norman was right in the day."

Packed schedules on both the European and U.S. tours allow players to compete for big purses for 12 months of the year but problems have arisen of late.

The coveted cream of top golfers are unwilling to play every week, leaving tours and sponsors adopting different tactics to protect their value and retain talent.

World number one Tiger Woods has been criticised by HSBC for skipping their lucrative World Golf Championship event in China in recent years, the American preferring a shorter schedule to boost his chances to add to his 14 major championship titles.

Woods told Reuters last week he backed other players to do the same.

The European Tour were criticised for imposing a rule that members must play in two of the three events leading up to this week's DP World Tour Championship in Dubai to be eligible for the last of the four Final Series tournaments.

That decision was described as 'farcical' by former British and U.S. Open champion Ernie Els.

Last year, the Asian Tour lost a restraint of trade case in the Singapore courts brought by four players they had fined for entering events on the rival OneAsia circuit.

Last week, professional golfers had the opportunity to play major events in America, Turkey, India, Australia and Japan with several other options also available in lower ranking circuits around the world.

That number will increase further next year with the PGA Tour, the biggest of the golf circuits, unveiling plans last month to launch a new development circuit in China called the PGA Tour China, following similar projects in Latin America and Canada.

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