"Sometimes to preserve a personal relationship you have to sacrifice a professional one."

Rory McIlroy Explains Split With Caddie JP Fitzgerald

Rory McIlroy has split with his long-term caddie JP Fitzgerald, and told media why the pair split in his pre-tournament press conference at the WGC-Bridgestone Invitational.

The Ulsterman was defiant the pair split on good terms and that JP wasn't 'fired'.

The world number four said, "sometimes to preserve a personal relationship you have to sacrifice a professional one."

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"JP has been a huge part of my life for the past decade, but I was getting very hard on him at times," McIlroy added.

"You don't want to be like that with anyone but sometimes this game drives you to it.

"I would say he is still one of my closest friends. We started together in 2008, we've had a lot of great times on and off the golf course.

"There's nothing to say JP won't work with me again at some point, but I felt like it was the right thing to do. It was a really tough decision.

"I hate the term fired or axed, it definitely wasn't what it was. I changed my path a little bit but it was just a build-up of stuff, I felt I needed to make that change."

JP caddied for McIlroy in all four of the Northern-Irishman's major wins in his rise to world number one.

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The pair have worked together since 2008, shortly after Rory turned professional.

It comes just over a week after the four-time major winner publicly thanked JP for helping him get through a torrid spell in the first round of the Open.

When five-over after just six holes, JP managed to kick McIlroy into gear.

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"JP, he reminded me who I was, basically he said, 'You're Rory McIlroy, what the f--- are you doing?', he said."

Whilst it does come as a surprise, the reality is that McIlroy is yet to add to his major tally since the 2014 USPGA Championship.

Perhaps a change may be best for both parties here, and it is nice to see that they have split on good terms.

Forbes estimated that Fitzgerald earned $1.65 million from his cut of McIlroy's prize money over the 12 months to June this year.

Fitzgerald has also caddied for Paul McGinley, Darren Clarke and Ernie Els.

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He will have his close friend Harry Diamond on the bag at Firestone this week and next week at the USPGA Championship, but there is no news on his next permanent caddie.

"I just needed someone that knew me and that's why I took Harry for the next couple of weeks," McIlroy said.

"If something doesn't work out and Harry and I say two weeks is enough I'll need to find someone else but I've got 10 days between the end of the PGA and the start of the Northern Trust to do that."

Who will Rory McIlroy's next caddie permanent caddie be?

There has been some obvious speculation over Jim 'Bones' Mackay working with McIlroy after Bones and Phil Mickelson recently ended their 25-year working relationship.

However, Bones has signed up with Golf Channel and NBC as an on-course reporter for the next year so that does look unlikely.

The bookies are making Joe LaCava favourite, who has been on Tiger Woods' bag since late 2011.

LaCava, who was Fred Couples' caddie for nearly 20 years, has been out of work since February and it is unknown when, or even if, Tiger Woods will return to competitive action.

This could be quite a good move for the American.

Other names in the running are Lee Westwood's caddie Billy Foster and Steve Williams.

Williams was Tiger Woods's main bagman before caddying for Adam Scott, although he is now semi-retired.