Rory McIlroy reveals what he told his caddie about his driver when walking down his final hole at the Canadian Open

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What an awful few days it has been for Rory McIlroy at the Canadian Open.

McIlroy finally broke his silence by speaking to the media for the first time in three weeks on Wednesday, before the Canadian Open began.

McIlroy received criticism after his non-conforming driver controversy, when he ducked repeated interview requests.

Before the tournament began this week, the Northern Irishman opened up on the reasoning behind his snubbing of the golfing press.

McIlroy explained he felt hard done by regarding the fall-out from the issues with his driver at the PGA Championship, after his name was the only one to get leaked, despite the fact that numerous other players’ drivers failed the test.

So how must he be feeling now after missing the cut at Osprey Valley, following rounds of 71 and 78 to finish up on nine-over par for the tournament?

Rory McIlroy reveals what he told his caddie about his driver at the Canadian Open

McIlroy seems to be a shadow of the player who won The Masters at Augusta National six weeks ago.

His game is well off the boil right now.

And all of his problems seem to be coming back to his much-publicised new driver.

After his round, he spoke to the media, and responded when asked what he thinks of the new model.

He said, “I went — so 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 was saying to Harry going down the last this is the second time this year I’ve tried the new version, and it hasn’t quite worked out for me. So I’d say I’ll be testing quite a few drivers over the weekend.“

Nobody would be surprised to see McIlroy switch back to the old model that he wielded to such great effect at the US Open next week.

McIlroy responds when asked if he’s concerned

Things are not looking great for the five-time major champion right now.

But is he actually concerned about the overall state of his game?

McIlroy responded when asked that exact question.

He said, “Yeah, of course it concerns me. You don’t want to shoot high scores like the one I did today. Still I felt like I came here obviously with a new driver thinking that 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. Still sort of searching for the sort of 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.“

McIlroy has a lot of work to do with his game if he is to contend at the US Open next week.