Rory McIlroy admits 'concern' surrounding his driver ahead of the 2025 US Open at Oakmont

Rory McIlroy's driver woes have come under the spotlight as the Northern Irishman gears up for the 2025 U.S. Open at Oakmont. NUCLR GOLF shared an X post on June 7 featuring an interview of Rory McIlroy. Following a frustrating 78 on Friday at the RBC Canadian Open, he missed the cut.

The 35-year-old revealed that he's returned to using a 44-inch driver this week in hopes of finding something that's in his control. The caption of the post read:

"#UPDATE— Rory McIlroy admitted concern about his driver going into Oakmont following a 78 on Friday. After switching to the TaylorMade Qi35 model this week, Rory says he will be doing extensive testing this weekend. @TrackingRory"

“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… 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.”

“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.…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.”

McIlroy switched to a TaylorMade Qi35 model earlier this season. With that, let's look at Rory McIlroy's journey in the 2025 season so far.

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Rory McIlroy completed his career grand slam this season

McIlroy's 2025 year started with a massive win at the AT&T Pebble Beach Pro-Am in February, 21-under to add his 27th career PGA Tour title. It followed in March with a victory at the Players Championship for the second time at TPC Sawgrass. But the peak of his career came at Augusta in April, where he finally secured the masters title and completed his career grand slam.

With that, he joined an elite group of players such as Tiger Woods, Jack Nicklaus, Gary Player, Gene Sarazen, and Ben Hogan as the only men to win all four majors. After the Masters' victory, Rory McIlroy struggled to keep the momentum as he finished T47 at the PGA Championship and missed the cut at the Canadian Open. He even won this tournament back-to-back in 2019 and 2022.

The second round 78 at Hamilton Golf and Country Club marked his first missed cut at a regular PGA Tour event since the 2023 PLAYERS. As McIlroy enters the 2025 U.S. Open at Oakmont Country Club, all eyes will be on him.