For a player like Rory McIlroy, missing the cut is always a big deal. However, if it happens the week before a major championship, it sets off alarm bells throughout the golf world.
This is exactly what happened when the Northern Irishman missed the cut at the RBC Canadian Open, with the US Open just around the corner. It doesn’t help his case that he carded an horrendous 8-over during the second round and posted the worst 36-hole finish of his PGA Tour career.
McIlroy was the first to express concern, making it clear after his second-round performance.
“Of course it concerns me,” he said. “You don’t want to shoot high scores like the one I did today.”
The five-time major winner identified the fundamental problem he faced this week which, coincidentally, will also be the part of his game he needs most next week at Oakmont.
“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,” said McIlroy.
“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.”
Rory McIlroy on his driver struggles. pic.twitter.com/Bttcj9NAce
— Jamie Kennedy (@jamierkennedy) June 6, 2025
However, the 29-time PGA Tour winner is not sitting idly by. He has already revealed part of his strategy to solve the problem.
“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 [Diamond, his caddie] 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.”
McIlroy was clearly referring to the TaylorMade Qi35 driver, launched at the beginning of the current season, when he mentioned the “new version.” The 36-year-old used it in a few tournaments earlier this year but switched back to the Qi10 when he didn’t get the expected results.
McIlroy’s driver problems began three weeks ago when the USGA deemed his club non-conforming ahead of the PGA Championship. Since then, his driving has not been up to par, as evidenced by his tie for 47th place at Quail Hollow and his failure to make the cut at TPC Toronto.
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