Rory McIlroy has a new problem in his golf swing which has occurred since The Masters, according to Brandel Chamblee

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However golf fans reflect on Rory McIlroy’s 2025, it is surely fair to say that it has proved to be one of the most bizarre years of the Northern Irishman’s career.

The 2024 season seemed to be one of the most heartbreaking seasons for Rory McIlroy, with so many mirroring McIlroy’s agonising reaction to Bryson DeChambeau holing the putt to win the US Open.

It did, however, appear to be the setback that McIlroy needed. He had finished second in major championships before. But Pinehurst saw the 36-year-old lose by one shot having missed two extremely short putts in his final three holes.

Couple that with the dominance of Scottie Scheffler, and McIlroy seemed determined to develop the game which would end a wait to win a fifth major which had stretched longer than a decade heading into 2025.

Brandel Chamblee suggests the change he has noticed in Rory McIlroy’s swing since The Masters

His win at the AT&T Pebble Beach Pro-Am was impressive. But it was his victory at The Players Championship which put everyone on notice, with McIlroy finding a way to win at TPC Sawgrass while not firing on all cylinders.

It was not a performance of vintage ball-striking. But McIlroy overcame J.J. Spaun in the playoff after letting the world know that he really could manipulate shots. And that, of course, led to one of the most enthralling Masters victories golf has seen.

McIlroy recovered from a dreadful finish to his first round by taking charge of the tournament over the next two days at Augusta National. And while he did his best to throw it away on Sunday, McIlroy was able to get across the line and secure sporting immortality.

Some expected the floodgates to open in the majors for McIlroy. It helped that Scheffler did not even have his B game at the time. But McIlroy had cleared what had appeared to have been the biggest hurdle in his career.

Unfortunately, the last few months did not see McIlroy kick on. It seemed that he took his eye off the ball as he searched for fresh motivation. It was alarming to see how frustrated McIlroy looked at the US Open.

His form has improved more recently, with The Open Championship seeing his third top 10 in a row. But perhaps McIlroy has got work to do if he is going to get back to his best.

Speaking to Indo Sport, Brandel Chamblee has suggested that he has spotted a problem with McIlroy’s swing which was not there at the first major of the year.

“It’s good to see him back in form and it’s good to see him being generous with his team again. He has played beautiful golf at the last three events he has played. Sixth, second and seventh,” he said.

“But going into The Masters I thought he could hang with Scottie with his ball striking, but his swing has changed a little bit since The Masters.

“It drops to the inside now. He has these moments where the club just in transition drops to the inside and when it does he hits a lot of wild shots to the right and a lot of pulls with his irons to the left.

“Going into The Masters he had sorted that out, he wasn’t doing it. He had a cup in his wrist, the club was more down the line and he was not getting stuck on the inside.

“But ever since The Masters, it’s like if you have these little faults and you take your eye off the ball or your focus just diminishes a little bit you revert to your bad habits and that is where he is at with his golf swing.

“He just can’t hit it well enough at the moment to compete with Scottie. He has got to get it sorted out.

“It looked to me on Sunday that he was a little bit better, but he still is prone to two, three or four wild shots a round and you are just not going to beat Scottie doing that.”

How Rory McIlroy’s statistics from The Players Championship compare with his season stats in 2025

While McIlroy was not in full flight in TPC Sawgrass, it was arguably one of his most important victories on the PGA Tour. He has definitely driven the ball better than he did that week. But the other parts of his game stepped up.

Interestingly, his statistics for the season do tell quite a different story, with McIlroy’s approach play proving to be the real weakness across the year.

That surely proves Chamblee’s point. At a time when Scheffler seems to hit his target every time he stands over the golf ball, McIlroy’s approach play is some way adrift.

The good news for the five-time major champion is that he made those leaps in the months leading into The Masters earlier this year. It is something that he can do again.