- Rory McIlroy missed his first cut of the season with his Canadian Open exit
- The world No 2 admitted his form ‘concerns’ him ahead of next week’s US Open
- McIlroy struggled to get to grips with his new driver configuration in Ontario
Rory McIlroy admitted he is ‘concerned’ by his form and will consider ditching his driver going into the US Open after missing the cut in Canada with one of the worst rounds of his career.
The world No 2, who was trialling a new driver configuration after his compliancy debacle at the PGA Championship last month, hit only four fairways in compiling a second-round 78 at the tournament he won in 2024.
That left McIlroy on nine over par and with a free weekend to ponder a mountain of questions before heading to the season’s third major at Oakmont, which punishes loose drives more than any other course on the roster.
‘Of course it concerns me,’ said McIlroy, whose card included a quadruple bogey on the fifth after a wild shot from the tee and a lost ball over the green off his approach.
‘You don’t want to shoot high scores like the one I did today. I felt like I came here, obviously with a new driver, thinking that sort of was going to be good and solve some of the problems off the tee, but it didn’t.
‘Obviously going to Oakmont next week, what you need to do more than anything else there is hit fairways. I’m still sort of searching for the missing piece off the tee. Obviously for me, when I get that part of the game clicking, then everything falls into place for me. Right now that isn’t. Yeah, that’s a concern going into next week.’
Rory McIlroy confessed that his form ‘concerns’ him after crashing out of the Canadian Open
The 36-year-old cited his new driver configuration as a stumbling block after missing the cut
Having dumped his current model of TaylorMade driver once already this season, McIlroy could soon be dropping it for a second time as he searches for an option that more closely resembles the feel of the club he used to win at Augusta in April. The latter’s clubface wore to thin to pass compliancy tests ahead of the PGA Championship.
McIlroy, who has also struggled with motivation since that Masters high, added: ‘I’m going to have to do a lot of practice and a lot of work over the weekend at home and try to at least have a better idea of where my game is going into next week.
‘I went back to a 44-inch driver this week to try to get something that was a little more in control and could try to get something a bit more in play. But if I’m going to miss fairways, I’d rather have the ball speed and miss the fairway than not.
‘I’d say I’ll be testing quite a few drivers over the weekend.’
