Rory in China customs tug-of-war

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  • December 3, 2011

Chinese customs officials have impounded Roy McIlroy’s US Open Trophy and are refusing to release it.

Not everything runs smoothly in China it seems – Chinese customs officials have impounded Roy McIlroy’s US Open Trophy and are refusing to release it.

And nobody seems to knows why.

McIlroy’s management team had the trophy he won at Congressional Country Club in Maryland in June, packed in a special protective box and sent to China in October so that he could showcase it during his final six tournaments of the year starting at the Shanghai Masters.

But when no one was available to receive it when it arrived at its destination, Chinese customs official are reported to have stepped in and impounded the trophy and have so far refused to release it back into the hands of McIlroy who wants to put it on show at the European Tour’s season closing Dubai World Championship next week.

“The trophy was shipped out in its special protective box to Shanghai …but there was no one present at the course to receive it so it was taken back to the shipping agents’ depot,” Conor Ridge, McIlroy’s Horizon Sports agent, was reported by Reuters as saying at the weekend.

“So I then got in contact with IMG (the sports management company who are involved in the promotion of many European Tour events) in order that we could at least have the trophy on hand for the following week’s HSBC Champions event …but I was informed that China customs said they were now not releasing the trophy, and they still won’t give it to us.”

Ridge said his company had been forced to get the United States Golf Association, who administer the US Open, involved in the matter in an effort to get the trophy back.

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