Why Rory McIlroy has Uber driver to thank for last-minute club switch

Rory McIlroy needed a ride. Well, technically he didn’t. But he had a problem, so he called an Uber.

It was Saturday night of the Arnold Palmer Invitational last week, and McIlroy was in the midst of an equipment shuffle. He had added to his bag the new TaylorMade Qi35 driver and fairway woods — despite winning with the previous models at Pebble Beach about a month earlier — looking for a touch more distance, which he was able to find.

But after 54 holes at Bay Hill, McIlroy was seven shots behind leader Collin Morikawa and decided to make a change to his old sticks before Sunday’s final round. The problem, however, is that Bay Hill Club & Lodge in Orlando, Fla., is about 170 miles — or a 2 1/2 to 3-hour drive — from McIlroy’s West Palm Beach, Fla., home.

His solution? He found his clubs a ride.

Former pro-turned-analyst Brad Faxon, who works with McIlroy, told the story to Sky Sports this week.

“He had them Ubered from his house on Saturday night, which is pretty extraordinary to have those shipped up,” Faxon said. “And he came back with his clubs I think he is a little more comfortable with that he will use this week at the Players Championship.”

Faxon added the clubs McIlroy went back to have slightly more spin — since McIlroy certainly doesn’t need the speed/distance — so he can focus more on controlling his ball around TPC Sawgrass’ Stadium Course, which has thick rough and smaller green compared to most tournaments.

“Sort of going back to what I’m comfortable with,” McIlroy said after his round on Sunday, when he shot 72 and tied for 15th. “I tried new woods for the first three days, didn’t quite work out the way I wanted it to. So, yeah, I went back to my old stuff today.”

McIlroy said he swapped out everything.

“I led Strokes Gained: Off the tee in both Pebble and Torrey, so it was a really good idea to change,” he said, laughing. “Then, [Saturday], I lost strokes off the tee, which is the first time I’ve done that in a long time. Yeah, just went back to what was familiar.”

Drivers

At the Players Championship on Wednesday, McIlroy said he’ll use the same bag setup he used on Sunday (which he also plans to use for the Masters).

“I finished bad on Sunday at Bay Hill; I finished bad on Sunday at Torrey Pines as well,” McIlroy said. “But the one thing I would say is from the turnaround in my putting from Torrey to Bay Hill was great. I finished, I think, fifth in putting last week, so to see that turn around was really encouraging. That’s something for me to be really encouraged about going into this week, obviously, and then the next few months.”

At +1100, McIlroy is tied with Morikawa for the second-best odds to win this week. Scottie Scheffler is the betting favorite (+400), having won here each of the last two years. McIlroy won the Players in 2019. He tied for 19th last year and was cut the year before.

“It seems like this tournament sort of gets bigger and better every year, conditioning of the golf course, the facilities,” he said. “Seems like they’re always sort of reinvesting into this tournament. Yeah, great to be back. Obviously we had some dicey weather at the start of the week, but the golf course looks like it’s in perfect shape and should be ideal by Thursday. It’s a fun week. It’s always a tough test. Excited to be back and excited to get going.”

McIlroy tees off alongside Scheffler and Xander Schauffele at 1:29 p.m. ET on Thursday. The first round will be broadcast 1-7 p.m. ET on Golf Channel.