US Open golf: Rory McIlroy makes pre-major driver change and in 'better place' ahead of Oakmont

Rory McIlroy has reverted to a familiar driver ahead of the US Open, as he looks to “forget about” recent disappointments and continue his impressive major record.

McIlroy became just the sixth player to complete the career Grand Slam after his dramatic play-off victory at The Masters in April, although failed to contend at last month’s PGA Championship before missing the cut at last week’s RBC Canadian Open.

The world No 2 was forced into a last-minute club switch ahead of Quail Hollow, following his ‘gamer’ TaylorMade Qi10 driver – that had helped him to major glory at Augusta National – being considered non-conforming after a routine inspection.

McIlroy used a back-up driver in his tied-47th finish and switched to a new TaylorMade Qi35 driver ahead of the RBC Canadian Open, where he admitted to “still searching for a missing piece off the tee” after finishing in tied-149th – the lowest position in his PGA Tour career.

The five-time major champion said he would be “testing quite a few drivers over the weekend” and was seen using a Qi10 driver during a practice round at Oakmont, with McIlroy confirming he would use the familiar model during this week’s major.

“Hitting a lot of drivers, every driver sort of has its own character and you’re trying to manage the misses,” McIlroy said in his pre-tournament press conference. “It’s definitely a little bit of both.

“I feel like, as the last few weeks ago, I think I learnt a lot on Thursday and Friday last week. Did a good bit of practice at home and feel like I’m in a better place with everything going into this week.”

McIlroy revealed he carded an 11-over 81 during a practice round at a “nearly impossible” Oakmont on June 2, before his missed cut in Canada, despite birdieing his last two holes in a performance where he “didn’t feel like he played that bad”.

On what he gained from practising with drivers over the past week, McIlroy added: “I learned that I wasn’t using the right driver!”

World No 1 Scottie Scheffler’s driver was also considered non-conforming ahead of the PGA Championship, although still went onto claim a five-shot victory to register a third major title.

“It wasn’t a big deal for Scottie, so it shouldn’t have been a big deal for me,” McIlroy admitted.

McIlroy’s three targets for big finish to the season

The 36-year-old previously revealed it had been “hard to find the motivation to get back on the horse and go again” since his Grand Slam success, although the disappointing finishes in his last two starts has helped him switch focus heading into the rest of the 2025 campaign.

“I think it’s trying to have a little bit of amnesia and forget about what happened six weeks ago, then just trying to find the motivation to go back out there and work as hard as I’ve been working,” McIlroy added.

“I worked incredibly hard on my game from October last year all the way up until April this year. It was nice to sort of see the fruits of my labour come to fruition and have everything happen. But at the same time, you have to enjoy what you’ve just accomplished.

“I certainly feel like I’m still doing that and I will continue to do that but, at some point, you have to realise that there’s a little bit more golf left to play this season. There’s here, Royal Portrush, Ryder Cup…those are obviously the three big things that I’m looking at for the rest of the year.

“I think weeks like Quail Hollow or even weeks like last week, it makes it easier to reset in some way, to be like, ‘okay, I sort of need to get my stuff together here and get back to the process’.”

McIlroy’s evolution to regular US Open contender

McIlroy stormed to an eight-shot victory in the 2011 US Open, his maiden major title, but missed three consecutive cuts from 2016 before finishing no worse than ninth in each of his last six appearances.

He finished runner-up to Wyndham Clark in 2023 before agonisingly missing out to Bryson DeChambeau last June, where he bogeyed three of his last four holes to finish one shot behind, with McIlroy fully embracing the tough conditions faced annually at the US Open.

“I felt like I was better than that reputation [someone who struggles on US Open set-ups], so that’s ego driven in some way,” McIlroy said. “Shinnecock [2018] was a really hard one because I love that golf course, and to perform the way I did there, it really hurt me.

“I think it was that week where it clicked. It was like, why am I so comfortable here in Hartford [PGA Tour] but last week I had no clue what to do? So that’s when I made the decision at that back end of 2018 into 2019, I want to try to build my game around the toughest tests that we have in the game.

“Then as you’ve seen since 2019, six top 10s in a row at this tournament, obviously finished second the last two years in a row, and I’ve definitely become a much more confident US Open player and I’m way more comfortable on those firm, fast set-ups.

“The US Open went from probably my least favourite major to my favourite because of what it asks from you, and I love that challenge.”

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