Rory McIlroy has confirmed he will switch back to his original TaylorMade driver until at least The Masters after ending a significant equipment change mid-tournament at the Arnold Palmer Invitational.
McIlroy made vast changes to his bag ahead of the PGA Tour’s Signature Event, swapping his TaylorMade Qi10 driver, three-wood and five-wood for new TaylorMade Qi35 clubs, with the Northern Irishman also making alterations to his wedge set-up.
The big changes were linked to McIlroy’s switch to a different golf ball earlier this season, leading to a rethink of his whole bag, although the club experiment was cut short during an erratic week off the tee at Bay Hill.
Rory McIlroy was looking to win the Arnold Palmer Invitational for a second time
McIlroy had led the fields in strokes gained off the tee when he won the AT&T Pebble Beach Pro-Am last month and when he posted a tied-17th finish at the Genesis Invitational a fortnight late, only for him to lose shots to the field in that metric during his tied-15th at Bay Hill.
“I led strokes gained: off the tee in both Pebble and Torrey, so it was a really good idea to change,” McIlroy laughed following his final-round 72, leaving him eight strokes behind tournament winner Russell Henley.
Highlights from day four of the Arnold Palmer Invitational at Bay Hill, where Russell Henley claimed a dramatic victory
“[Saturday], I lost strokes off the tee, which is the first time I’ve done that in a long time. Yeah, just went back to what was familiar and what’s comfortable.
“I tried new woods for the first three days, didn’t quite work out the way I wanted it to. So, yeah, I went back to my old stuff. Driver, fairway wood, everything.”
What was the thinking behind the initial change?
McIlroy used a TaylorMade Qi35 driver, a 15-degree wood and an 18-degree club that he described as his ‘four-wood’ over the first three rounds, with a TaylorMade “Proto” P770 three-iron and a new MG4 pitching wedge also added to the bag.
The world No 2’s addition of a three-iron came by dropping down from four to three wedges in his bag, with the idea of the switch helping McIlroy have more options for club selection off the tee.
“I would hit my three-wood that’s going like 285, 290, but guys that are shorter than me are hitting driver sort of 300 or 310. I feel like I was at a disadvantage in some ways, even to people that hit it shorter than me, depending upon the course setup,” McIlroy explained ahead of the week.
“I messed around with the mini driver last year, but I just couldn’t quite get comfortable with it. I’ve sort of been playing around with like stronger three-woods. This three-wood [Qi35] that I have carries like 300, 305 in the air, which is a really good club for me to have.
Highlights from the final round of the AT&T Pebble Beach Pro-Am, last month, where Rory McIlroy impressed to claim a two-shot victory in his first PGA Tour appearance of the year
“That four-wood sort of bridges that gap, then I’ve got the three-iron that sort of replaces the five-wood. So I’ve got a club that sort of flies 260, a club that flies 280, a club that flies 300, and then the driver.
“It just sort of gives me more options off the tee. Especially with being so comfortable at the other end of the bag with the wedges and hitting those three-quarter shots, that it’s nice to have those options up at the top end of the bag.”
What will McIlroy do next?
McIlroy is set to use his original TaylorMade driver at The Players this week – live on Sky Sports – and said he expects to continue using it until after The Masters, where he will have another chance to complete the career Grand Slam.
The stars of the PGA Tour head to TPC Sawgrass this month, live on Sky Sports, where Scottie Scheffler chases a three-peat, Rory McIlroy looks to win again and the iconic 17th hole will create more drama!
“There’s pros and cons to it [equipment changes], and it’s a blessing and a curse at the same time that we sort of have to go through these 12-month club cycles,” McIlroy said on Sunday.
“I probably just didn’t give myself enough time. It can look good on the Trackman and it can look good on the range at home at the Bear’s Club or on the golf course, but once you get out here in these conditions that’s where it really shows itself and it just wasn’t quite ready.”
On where he expects to play ahead of The Masters, McIlroy added: “I’ll see how next week goes and then, just sort of see what I feel like and what I think I need.
“I think it [Augusta] is just going to be a little bit different this year. There’s some areas of the course that are maybe a little thinner tree-wise, just with the hurricane that rolled through. The 16th is new green, so yeah I’ll probably go up there once or twice beforehand.”
Who will win The Players? Watch live throughout the week on Sky Sports. Live coverage of the opening round begins on Thursday at 11.30am. Get Sky Sports or stream with no contract on NOW.
