Rory McIlroy - 4 Time Major Winner

AyeGer

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120566418#Comment_120566418

He has himself in a contract with TaylorMade requiring him to use their drivers. They change every year. Rory has enough money now he should concentrate on winning as much as he can for his legacy imo. Leave TM and pick the best equipment for his game.

His driving was great up until recently so maybe even negotiate using one of their older drivers.

Russman

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120568740#Comment_120568740

I'm kinda torn on this tbh, on one hand I agree that with his status & wealth, being a free agent could only be good. I mean, what tour truck would say no to building up a club or making tweaks for him ? They'd be delighted for him to be seen to use their product for free, money couldn't buy that kind of endorsement. Look at the social media commentary when he put in a couple of vokeys a few weeks ago or the Scotty at the matchplay.

On the other hand, love them or loathe them, Taylormade generally don't make rubbish. Adam Scott is using Stealth as a free agent afaik. Maybe its the search for more and more distance and ball speed that's hurting him, who knows. Purely an opinion, but even with his great play last year I never felt he was actually driving it well, obviously that's just from watching it on TV, so what the hell do I know ?! Then again, plenty of TM and ex-TM players seem to have gravitated away from Stealth back to older models, Sergio and Morikawa back to original SIM, Justin Rose to the old M2 etc etc. Maybe Stealth just isn't right for him. With all the golf they play together and given his comments about trying out JT's Vokey wedges, I find it hard to believe he hasn't hit JT's driver enough times to know if it would help him.

AyeGer

TaylorMade certainly make great stuff, I have their fairway woods but couldn’t get to grips with their driver. I’m not comparing myself to pros obviously btw.

Most of the free agent guys are using a mixture of brands in their bag.

Tbh I think it’s between the ears with Rory. He came so close last year to getting another major only to be pipped by Cam Smith. I’d say he was gutted he wants another major desperately.

Ivefoundgod

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120568900#Comment_120568900

Theres been some reporting on how it works when you are free agent with Tommy Fleetwood the last few years up to him signing with TM. You're right that the tour trucks will help out to a degree but they absolutely will not give him the same treatment as their actual players regardless of his status. If you take say Callaway or TM as an example, if Rory is a free agent would he get the same treatment as Rahm and Scheffler? No. He'd still get clubs but the customisation that we've seen TM do for him is not going to be available. Now whether he'd actually need that i don't think he would but its wrong to say he'd get the same treatment as a free agent.

I don't think his current woes are equipment related and looking at the stats his driving isn't even that bad, he's positive SG off the tee in every tournament this year up to the masters (https://datagolf.com/player-profiles?dg_id=10091). I think his issues at the moment are mental more than anything and still think he'll come good this year.

Russman

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120569020#Comment_120569020

Hmm, I'm not so sure tbh, but its neither here nor there anyway really. I think probably Rory along with Tiger are the two big enough names that would get the customisation/fitting required for a club. Maybe not the exact same, but I do think as near as makes no difference in the real world. Maybe not from Callaway in fairness, they're probably still a bit thick with him !😁 We're probably talking about degrees of customisation though, and as you say, how much would he actually need ? Would Vokey custom grind him a few wedges like they would for JT ? I'd say absolutely. Would Ping hot melt a few drivers and fit & set them up for him like they would for, say, a Hovland ? Meh, who knows.

Agree with you in that his issues are not equipment related. He's around long enough at this stage surely to know if a club is working or not and is a big enough voice to tell them if its not and get something done about it.

Mantis Toboggan

Driving has gone to muck since he changed driver due to the trampoline effect. What are the laws around this? Surely he would have been better off sticking with the driver and taking the fine if and when it came along?

FixdePitchmark

Didn't see much - was it that bad ? He is only+1

AdamD

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120614314#Comment_120614314

Not a terrible round, hasn't shot himself out of it, but has shown nothing to suggest he's in the kind of form to contest. If that makes sense

Mantis Toboggan

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120614314#Comment_120614314

Finished well, struggled off the tee especially early on, only hit 2 fairways which is shocking stuff! Still in with a squeak.

gypsy79

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120613828#Comment_120613828

The fine is a DQ so what is point winning then

And it is knowingly cheating

eagle eye

I'd be of the exact opposite opinion. Rory was sick and he shot at least two strokes better than he should have given how he played.

After his round finished yesterday I immediately thought to myself that he's a serious contender.

He's five back of one recent major winner and four back of two more. He's well capable of catching them in one round nevermind three.

I really think he's a serious contender now and if you go through the posts in this thread you won't see any posts by me saying stuff like this.

FixdePitchmark

He doesn't have the form to get near top ..but good going if Ill

OEP

Unless he found something at the range last night, I can't see how he contends only hitting two fairways! I hope he has found something.

Mantis Toboggan

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120615727#Comment_120615727

That's it, needs a big improvement, the rough on this course is not where you want to be.

slave1

This is where class and resilience is required, dig deep, stay in contention and fight up the leaderboard

eagle eye

To shoot +1 while sick and only hitting two fairways is impressive on this course.

eagle eye

Looks like I got it wrong. Rory having another poor day.

blackcard

In the water on 2 consecutive holes. It seems like he doesn't know where his drive is going. 6 misses to the left yesterday, 6 misses to the right and some of the misses were very wide. Apart from the matchplay, he has struggled with his driving this year and the problem seems to be getting worse. In danger of missing the cut

blackcard

Of the 20 driving holes so far, the results have been as follows.

Left rough

Fairway

Left rough

Right rough

Left rough

Right rough

Right bunker

Left rough

Right rough

Fairway

Left rough

Left rough

Right intermediate

Left rough

Left rough

Fairway

Right rough

Water Right

Water Right

Right bunker

Truly shocking

Mantis Toboggan

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120618195#Comment_120618195

Just don't understand why he couldn't have got a replica driver which produced similar results and tell taylormade to go swivel on their stealth 2

eagle eye

Only five back with two rounds to play. He's right in it.

Plasandrunt

that was a really good round from Rory cosidering

FixdePitchmark

Rory not driving well - will end in tears hear - his game is built around that so much - he admitted he was lucky today - with bad driving , luck runs out.

blackcard

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120618777#Comment_120618777

He hit 2 balls in the water and said he was very lucky not to be out of bounds on another 2 holes. Needs to improve his accuracy off the tee dramatically

sReq | uTeK

To me it just shows HOW good he is. He's been worse off the Tee than Rahm and yet he's still in the mix.

If he could just sort his driving he'd be right up there.

BoardsMember

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120618822#Comment_120618822

It shows how good he is that he had luck not being out of bounds twice and was twice in the water and rarely on fairway in two round. The good guys, or guys playing well, don't play like that. You can't win tournaments like that. You have to play well to beat the best players in the world. He's been incredibly fortunate to still have a sniff.

eagle eye

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120618847#Comment_120618847

Obviously you never heard of Seve Ballesteros. He couldn't hit a fairway to save his life and won five majors.

Xander10

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120618822#Comment_120618822

Kinda what people have been saying about Rory for years now. Some weeks it's, if only he could sort out his chipping or putting.

Rahm got a Major this season, he won't lose sleep about the odd off week when he can win the occasional big one

Mantis Toboggan

Doing really well to be within 5 of the lead.

Cetyl Palmitate

Lora of rain forecast today. At least he will have had plenty of practice out of the rough!