Legal battle sidelines mcilroy

Rory McIlroy said on Monday that mediation in a lawsuit with his former management company has failed and he will skip his next two tournaments in China because he needs time to prepare for the trial.

McIlroy will not play the BMW Masters, which starts on Oct 30 at Lake Malaren, or the following week at the HSBC Champions. Those are the opening two events in the final series of the Race to Dubai on the European Tour.

The world No 1 player has been involved in an acrimonious dispute with Dublin-based Horizon Sports Management. He left Horizon in the spring of 2013, about six months after signing a lucrative contract with Nike.