What Rory McIlroy said about his driver during the previous PGA Tour event which saw him miss the cut in 2023

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It is particularly jarring to see Rory McIlroy miss the cut in a PGA Tour event in a year in which he has won three times, including at The Masters.

Rory McIlroy looked to be on course to have the year of his life after winning The Masters. The Northern Irishman had also won at Pebble Beach and at The Players Championship. And it was hard not to feel that his fifth major title was going to free the 36-year-old up to win several more majors.

However, his form since then has been hugely disappointing. He looked rusty at the Zurich Classic and the Truist Championship, and he barely managed to make the cut at the PGA Championship.

Ultimately, he was unable to make the weekend at the RBC Canadian Open this week. McIlroy missed the cut after posting a 78 in his second round at TPC Toronto. Just four players in the field posted a worse score for two rounds.

Rory McIlroy still searching for the winning formula with the driver after missing the cut at the Canadian Open

Of course, much of the talk this week concerned McIlroy’s driver. The news that his driver had failed testing at the PGA Championship was one of the reasons he did not speak to the media once the tournament got going at Quail Hollow. And it seems that he is still working to find the right replacement.

McIlroy suggested that he did not get along with his driver this week. It is extremely concerning ahead of the US Open, particularly with McIlroy admitting that he is finding it tougher to practice now that he has completed the career grand slam.

McIlroy’s comments are interesting when you consider what he said about his driver during the last regular PGA Tour event in which he would go on to miss the cut.

McIlroy did miss the cut at the 2024 Open Championship, and The Masters the previous year. But it was the 2023 Players Championship which saw the last time he failed to make the weekend in a tournament on the PGA Tour calendar.

And after his first round at TPC Sawgrass – in which he shot 76 – McIlroy opened up on some of the problems he was having with the longest club in his bag.

“Yeah, obviously I went to that new driver in Riviera, and it’s just not — yeah. Look, I wish I could use my driver from last year, but I can’t just because of — you use a driver for so long, and it starts to get a little too — basically it just wouldn’t pass the test,” he said.

“These driver heads are so finicky, it’s hard to get one exactly the same.

“Yeah, I mean, I’m obviously trying my best, trying to get something that’s as close to what I had last year. Yeah, just struggled a little bit off the tee the last couple weeks.”

“This [driver] is as close as it’s been. Yeah, there’s obviously a part of it that’s the user, as well. It’s quite a lot of user error in there, as well,” he added.

How Rory McIlroy performed over the rest of the 2023 season

What will be worrying for McIlroy ahead of the rest of this year was that he would only win once more in 2023 – at the Genesis Scottish Open.

By his standards, it was an extremely disappointing year – even with three top 10s in the majors. He is one of those players who is always going to be judged by the number of wins he has.

Hopefully, he can work things out a little sooner this time around as he tries to move past this mid-season lull.