Business of Sport: The business of being Rory

McIlroy is golf’s billion dollar ticket (and counting), writes Brian Keogh.

Rory McIlroy tees off during his final round at the Open in Hoylake last Sunday. Picture: Getty

When Darren Clarke realised the dream of a lifetime by lifting the Claret Jug at Sandwich in 2011, he was already an established star. Winning The Open brought him an immediate €2.2 million bonus from Dunlop and a string of lucrative extras in terms of increased appearance fees for multiple, energy-sapping trips to lesser events on the other side of the planet.

“Darren’s already a brand,” his manager, Andrew ‘Chubby’ Chandler, said at ...