Rory McIlroy has reached the saturation point when it comes to discussing his driver. The non-conforming driver at the PGA Championship? He’s a “little pissed off” the results were leaked and would like to move on. The recent issues off the tee that resulted in him playing a game of driver hot potato the last few weeks? He’s tired of answering those, too.
Even the first question during Tuesday’s US Open news conference centred around McIlroy’s driver and swing mechanics.
“I think it’s a little bit of both,” McIlroy said of the role the driver and swing mechanics have played in his recent struggles. “I think especially trying to—hitting a lot of drivers, every driver sort of has its own character and you’re trying to manage the misses. It’s definitely a little bit of both.”
When you’re scuffling with the driver and making regular changes, it’s natural to wonder which head model is going to make the cut. McIlroy has alternated between TaylorMade’s Qi10 (his previous gamer) and Qi35, and most recently opted for the latter during the RBC Canadian Open.
The driver change resulted in his first missed cut of the season, following rounds of 71-78, and first negative strokes gained/off-the-tee performance (negative-2.185). Those are the firsts every pro wants to avoid.
Driver struggles lead to questions about what’s in the bag, especially at a major championship. McIlroy, however, doesn’t have any interest in saying.
The most curious exchange during his media session centred around which he plans to use this week.
Question: Have you settled on a driver that you want to use this week, first of all?
McIlroy: Yeah.
Question: What is it?
McIlroy: A TaylorMade. (Laughter.)
Question: What model?
McIlroy: I mean, come out and watch me hit balls, and you’ll see.
In other words, stop asking driver-specific questions.
Based on in-hand photos obtained by Golf Digest and confirmation from TaylorMade representatives, McIlroy plans to use a TaylorMade Qi10 head—the same one he used during the PGA Championship when his previous gamer was deemed non-conforming—during the US Open.
The curious omission on the head is a dot next to the loft on the hosel, which denotes whether it’s a Qi10 “dot” (the lower spinning core option) or the standard Qi10 core head. McIlroy had been playing the “dot” version, but it’s fair to wonder if he’s gone to the standard version that offers a slight uptick in spin. It’s a subtle change he’s yet to confirm.
Success on the course is the best way to stifle the incessant driver questions. McIlroy’s hoping his greatest weapon returns this week so he can get back to talking about his game instead.
