Rory McIlroy has returned to the familiar driver ahead of the US opening as he “forget” his recent disappointment and continues his impressive major record.
McIlroy became the sixth player to complete a career grand slam after a dramatic playoff victory at the Masters in April, but failed to compete in last month’s PGA Championship before missing a cut at the RBC Canada Open last week.
World No 2 was forced to play the last minute club switch ahead of Quail Hollow, following the “gamer” Taylormade Qi10 driver.
McIlroy used the backup driver on his 47th finish and switched to the new Taylormade QI35 driver before the RBC Canadian Open. He admitted he was “still looking for a piece he’s missing from the tee” after finishing at Tied-149, the worst position in his PGA Tour career.
The five-time major champion said he will “test a considerable number of drivers over the weekend,” and was seen using the QI10 drivers in the practice round at Oakmont, confirming that McIlroy will be using the model familiar to this week’s major.
McIlroy was seen using the QI10 driver again before the US Open. Live at Sky Sports Golf starting Thursday
“When you hit a lot of drivers, every driver has their own character, so you’re trying to manage your mistakes,” McIlroy said at a pre-tournament press conference. “It’s definitely a little of both.
“I think I learned a lot last Thursday and Friday, like I did in the last few weeks before. I practiced a little at home and feel like I’m in a better place with everything coming in this week.”
McIlroy revealed that he had 11 over 81 cards in the “nearly impossible” practice round at Oakmont on June 2.
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Golf Channel’s Kira D Dixon discusses how McIlroy prepared for the US Open at Oakmont following driver struggles at the PGA Championship
About what he gained from practicing with the driver last week, McIlroy added:
The World No. 1 Scotty Scheffler driver was also considered a non-fit ahead of the PGA Championship, but claimed a five-shot victory to register for the third major title.
“It wasn’t a big deal for Scotty, so it shouldn’t have been a big deal for me,” McIlroy admitted.
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Check out Scottie Scheffler’s key moments in the final round of the PGA Championship.
McIlroy’s three targets with a big finish to the season
The 36-year-old has revealed that since his successful grand slam, it has been “hard to find a motive to go back to the horse and go again,” but his disappointing finish in two final starts helped him switch to focus on the rest of his campaign in 2025.
“I think I’m having a bit of amnesia and trying to forget what happened six weeks ago, and I’m just going back there and finding motivations to work as hard as I work,” added McIlroy.
“I worked very hard on the game from last October to April this year, and it was good to see the fruits of my labor come to fruition and everything happens.
“I certainly feel like I’m still doing it, and I’ll continue to do it, but at some point you have to realize that there’s a little more golf left this season.
McIlroy will play alongside Shane Laurie (left) and Justin Rose.
“Well, in a few weeks like Quail Hollow, or even a few weeks like last week, it’s easy to reset in some way, and “Well, we need to gather things here and go back to the process.”
McIlroy’s evolution against regular open candidates in the US
McIlroy won an eight-shot victory in his Maiden major title, US Open in 2011, but ended up in ninth or below in his final six appearances after missing out on cuts for three consecutive times since 2016.
McIlroy will make his appearance at the 17th US Open this week
He suffered from Bryson Deccanbeau in June last year after finishing runner-up at Wyndham Clark in 2023. There he bogeyed three of the last four holes and finished one shot.
“I felt like it was better than its reputation [someone who struggles on US Open set-ups]that’s what ego drives in one way or another,” McIlroy said. [2018] I love the golf course so it was really tough.
“I think it was the week I clicked, and it seemed like why I was so comfortable here at Hartford. [PGA Tour] But last week, I didn’t know what to do? It’s about trying to build the game in the toughest tests in the game when it makes decisions on the backend until 2019 in 2018.
McIlroy finished runner-up in the previous two US
“As we’ve seen since 2019, we’ve finished six top 10 in a row in this tournament, second in the last two years in a row.
“The US Open has become my favorite for what you ask from my favorites, from my favorites, from my favorites. I love the challenge.”
Who will win the US Open? Check out Sky Sports’ extended coverage throughout the week. The opening round will be live on Thursdays from 12:30pm Sky Sports Golf. Get Sky Sports or Don’t stream contracts now.
