Rory McIlroy has made some golf fans angry with his ‘absurd’ comments after day two of the Truist Championship

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Rory McIlroy is well-placed after day two at the Truist Championship, but his comments after his round on Friday caused somewhat of a stir.

McIlroy opened his Truist Championship account with a four-under-par 66 on day one and followed that up with a three-under-par 67 on day two.

Rain battered Philadelphia yesterday, but the PGA Tour did a great job to get everyone finished in the end.

McIlroy spoke after his second round at the Truist Championship, and he covered a few topics including potentially changes to the Tour Championship.

He then went on to discuss his win at The Masters.

And McIlroy said it felt like everyone has forgotten his win at The Players Championship, because of his triumph at Augusta National.

There’s probably some truth to that. However, the Northern Irishman caused a bit of a stir with his comments on Philadelphia Cricket Club on Friday.

Golf fans angry with Rory McIlroy’s comments after Truist Championship day two

McIlroy spoke to reporters after day two and responded when asked whether the wind and rain made Philadelphia Cricket Club play longer.

He said, “Even today, heavier air, rain, a bit of wind. I draw back on a few holes and then I hit driver on a couple.

“It is — I mean, I think there’s a lot of debate about it, but if the golf ball just went a little shorter, this course would be awesome. Not that it isn’t awesome anyway, but right now for the distances we hit it, it’s probably 500 or 600 yards too short.

“Yeah, it would be amazing to be able to play courses like this the way the architect wanted you to play them. So, yeah, like it does, it gives you a better appreciation when you play them in these conditions for sure.“

These comments were questionable to say the least from McIlroy.

Many golf fans actually viewed them as elitist, and they took to social media to vent their anger.

One golf fan took to X and made it clear that McIlroy had missed the point, “Tighter fairways, longer rough. Make missing the fairway actually hurt. Not that hard!

Whilst another was really angry with the Northern Irishman’s ill-advised remarks, “The architect intended hickory shafts and drivers that weren’t made of space age metal. The idea that everyone should have a harder game to play because like 200 guys on the planet don’t get the real “Tillinghast Experience” is absurd.“

Meanwhile, a third golf fan said, “Has Rory told his equipment sponsors to stand down on their opposition to equipment rollbacks? Didn’t think so.“

Then a fourth fan did not hold back with his criticism of McIlroy: “And here I thought Rory might become less unlikable after unlocking the Grand Slam.“

Whilst a fifth took to his X account to share his very simple solution, “Stop letting the PGA Tour players use space ship parts for clubs and most of the problems are solved.“

A sixth fan didn’t agree with McIlroy whatsoever, “They should play a couple of tournaments with the shorter ball just to see what happens.“

And a seventh golf fan very much echoed a similar sentiment, “Are we actually going to have to listen to these guys defend the ball rollback? Give me a break.“

While an eighth fan thought that McIlroy’s remarks were actually made with only himself in mind, “Rory benefits from longer courses, of course he would say this lol.“

The Masters champion is a hugely popular figure in the game on the whole, but there are some who feel like he comes across a bit aloof.

And his remarks on the A. W. Tillinghast masterpiece just played into that narrative.

The simple fact of the matter is that these fabulous old golf courses don’t need to be lengthened, but the equipment used by the pros needs to be scaled back.

The only solution to Rory McIlroy’s ferocious power

It’s not just McIlroy of course.

The player sitting at 100th on the driving distance stats this season averages 299.8 yards off the tee.

Meanwhile, an average of 310.2 yards doesn’t even get inside the top 20!

It’s the ball speed that is the problem, so if the PGA Tour could introduce a ball that flies shorter through the air, a lot of these fantastic old courses would not become redundant.

Perhaps new rules could be brought in regarding the hot faces of new drivers as well.

Here are the current driving distance leaders on the PGA Tour in 2025:

And another huge bonus of using a shorter golf ball is that extra land won’t continually need to be used up for building monster golf courses in excess of 7,600 yards.

It’s a no-brainer!