Rory McIlroy has admitted his new role off the course in thwarting the threat of the PGA Tour 's newfound rivals LIV Golf, is beginning to take its toll.
The PGA Tour has been at war with LIV Golf for the past 10 months, after the Saudi-funded series emerged as a direct threat to the Tour's position at the top of professional golf. One man who has been key to the American-based circuit's staunch defence is McIlroy.
The four-time major champion has emerged as one of the breakaway circuit's biggest critics, often taking aim at LIV's controversial chief executive Greg Norman.
There had been question marks as to whether McIlroy's new role off the course had hampered his performances on it, especially after the Northern Irishman missed the cut at last month's Masters. Just days after his nightmare Augusta, it was then confirmed McIlroy had withdrawn from the RBC Heritage - the tournament the week after the opening major of the year.
His withdrawal proved to be a controversial - and costly - one, after breaking a golden PGA Tour rule in pulling out of an elevated event for the second time this year. The punishment came in the way of a £2.4 million cost, after McIlroy saw his Player Impact Programme cut by 25 percent.
He finally broke his one-month silence at last week's Wells Fargo Championship, but once again failed to make an impact on the course after finishing the tournament on one-over-par in a tie for 47th. Amid a difficult four weeks for the four-time major champion, McIlroy detailed the impact the saga with LIV Golf has had on his well-being before deciding he needed a break.
He told Golf Digest : "It's not the golf side of things. If you had nothing else going on in your life, you could play every week there is to play and be totally fine. But it's just all the other stuff that was going on around the game of golf and being right in the middle of it.
"It sort of took its toll and, yeah, everything just sort of caught up with me this last month or so." In an interview with Golf Channel at Quail Hollow last week, the Northern Irishman revealed his withdrawal from the RBC Heritage was done for the sake of his "mental and emotional well-being".
Amid the ongoing pressures away from the golf course over the past 12 months, McIlroy's schedule on it had been jam-packed, which eventually led to his one-month break following the Masters. "So if you look at, like last year I won the FedEx Cup," he added.
"I went and played Wentworth and Italy to try to support the tour over there. Then played CJ Cup, then Dubai, and it was like, I never really gave myself that time to sort through everything. to sort of reset and reassess everything and, and start the year like really fresh."