"I’ve no idea whether he’s had his face rearranged or not"

Chubby Chandler has seen it all at this stageChubby Chandler has had a fascinating career as a player and agent and while he'd be the first to admit that he has made mistakes along the way, he believes IMG has dropped the ball in the case of Tiger "Eldrick" Woods.

In a detailed interview with Gary Meenaghan in UAE paper The National, Chandler speaks frankly about his relationship with players like Darren Clarke and Lee Westwood and Rory McIlroy's impending foray onto the PGA Tour.

Having handled a crisis or two for Clarke, Westwood and cricketer Freddie Flintoff in his time, Chandler admits he doesn't have all the facts but feels that IMG did a pretty average job when the world No 1's world imploded.

“When he didn’t turn up at his own tournament, they should have done something there,” he says. “But I’ve no idea whether he’s had his face rearranged or not and without knowing all the facts you can’t really pass comment.

“If he was completely in once piece and definitely going to get a divorce there is no reason why he wouldn’t come back now, so that is obviously not the case. Either he has something to hide or he is trying to get his marriage back together.”

As for McIlroy, Chandler is still learning all the time. Like everyone else, he keeps underestimating the 20 year old Belfast prodigy.

“My guess is America will need Rory McIlroy perhaps more than Rory McIlroy will need America,” says Chandler. “He will be one of the key, marquee players when he tees it up. And I don’t see there being any time constraints because he is so far ahead of the game already. I mean, my thoughts on Rory are that if he finishes this year the same ranking as he ended last year [world No 9], he will have done well. But that definitely won’t satisfy him.”