23 March 2023 , 13:17
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Rory McIlroy has explained his decision to change both his driver and putter, with The Masters at Augusta National now just weeks away.
McIlroy is back in action this week at the WGC-Dell Technologies Match Play and kicked off his tournament with a win, defeating Scott Stallings 3&1 on Wednesday. The Northern Irishman showed glimpses of his scintillating best, carding six birdies across his 17 holes against the American.
His impressive round came on the back of an equipment change earlier this week, which saw him make switches at both ends of his game, in his driving and putting.
The switch-up could well be a risky one with the Masters just two weeks away. McIlroy though has been pleased with the results so far. Discussing his club change, he said: "I think just has to do with my play. It's hard because you look at strokes gained off the tee, and you would think that I'm driving the ball well or I have been driving the ball well.
"Then you look at my driving accuracy, and it's down around 50 percent, which is quite low for me. Strokes gained, I'm hitting the ball a long way, so strokes gained over - maybe overvalues length sometimes depending on the course.
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Rory McIlroy made a change to his driver (Eric Gay/AP/REX/Shutterstock)"So, yeah, I knew I just needed to change it up a bit going back to a driver length that I'm a little more comfortable with. But the thing is, going to a 44-inch driver with the previous shaft I was using was too stiff, and I couldn't spin it. I needed to go to a slightly softer shaft and I can hit more shots with it and feel a bit more comfortable sort of playability-wise.
"So it was good to see. It was good to put it in play today and have to perform pretty well. Drove it well, especially on the back nine. Obviously, this part of the season, you've got one eye on what you're doing now and one eye on Augusta. It's trying to do both."
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Rory McIlroy rolled back the years with his putter (AP)In a bid to revitalise his putting, McIlroy has put a Studio Select Newport GSS prototype in his bag, despite holding a £16 million a-year deal with Taylormade. The world No. 3 has a proven track record with the club, having won two of his major titles with it at the 2011 US Open and the 2012 PGA Championship.
And following its return this week, McIlroy was once again happy with his work on the greens. "There was a couple of putts on the back nine there that I was actually glad that I had to hole," he said.
"It was good practice and obviously at the same time I had to win the match as well, but it was good. It was a good first outing for both those clubs, and they performed pretty well."