Rory McIlroy 'happy' after stepping away from unofficial role amid LIV Golf fracture

Rory McIlroy believes distancing himself from the sport's political landscape has helped him both on and off the golf course. During the peak of the turmoil sparked by LIV Golf's emergence, he became the unnoficial voice of the PGA Tour, addressing questions about the controversy at tournaments whilst also handling negotiations as a member of the Tour's policy board.

McIlroy has adopted a more detached approach since resigning from the board two years ago, claiming seven victories including a career-defining Masters triumph earlier this year that completed his Grand Slam collection. "From a golfing perspective, stepping away from the politics and being intimately involved, it's definitely made me happier from a golfing perspective," he said.

"When I was on the board, I was clued in, I talked to people, I got different opinions but at the same time I felt like it was taking away from some of the other things I want to do in my life. You can't keep all the plates spinning at the same time and something had to give. If you look at my golf since then, it's been a pretty good run.

"I have a clear head and I'm out of all the political stuff in golf, basically, and I can just focus on playing and making myself competitively happy by playing in the tournaments that I want to play. And having more time to make myself personally happy doing things I want to do away from golf, travelling with my family and showing my daughter different parts of the world, is a very nice place to be in life."

McIlroy is pursuing a fourth consecutive Race to Dubai crown this week and a seventh Order of Merit overall, which would eclipse Seve Ballesteros and leave him just one behind Colin Montgomerie. Marco Penge and Ryder Cup colleague Tyrrell Hatton are the only two players who can prevent him at the DP World Tour Championship.

Despite being located in the United States, McIlroy has retained strong connections with the DP World Tour he still regards as 'home' and he urged other players to "step up" their commitment. With the fractured nature of the men's professional game at the minute, this tour needs all of its stars to step up and play in the big events," added McIlroy, who has had a new award - for which he is ineligible - named after him to commemorate his Grand Slam success which will reward the best performance by a European player over the course of the year's four majors.

"I feel quite a responsibility to do that and to try to make this tour as strong as it can possibly be." Tommy Fleetwood, another one of those stars, has defended himself against accusations of gamesmanship last week.

The Southport golfer was criticised by television commentators after leaving fellow Englishman and eventual winner Aaron Rai waiting on the tee for their play-off at the Abu Dhabi HSBC Championship. "I feel like it's disappointing. I would hope everybody knows that I wouldn't do anything like that and I think the world of Aaron as well," he said.

"We walked off the 18th and I was desperate to go to the toilet...I ran to the toilet; ran to the tee." DP World have committed to extending their title sponsorship of the tour until 2035.