At least Rory McIlroy managed a little, self-deprecating laugh at the numbers which didn’t add up for him at the Arnold Palmer Invitational, where his experiment in changing driver – and fairway woods – proved to be a short-lived affair.
“I led strokes gained off the tee in both Pebble [where he won] and Torrey, so it was a really good idea to change,” quipped McIlroy, who finished 15th behind winner Russell Henley at Bay Hill, after losing shots to the field when ranked 25th in strokes gained off the tee out of 51 players who made the weekend cut.
Not surprisingly, McIlroy has accepted the failed experiment and will have his oldish driver (with which he won the AT&T Pebble Beach pro-am) back as his power tool of choice off the tee at The Players this week at TPC Sawgrass and further on at next month’s Masters.
The world number two is one of three Irish players – along with Shane Lowry and Séamus Power – in the PGA Tour’s flagship event, which carries a purse of $25 million and $4.5 million to the winner. World number one Scottie Scheffler is chasing a third successive win in the tournament.
Rory McIlroy to revert to tried and tested tools for The Players
Rory McIlroy to ditch driver experiment, while Shane Lowry continues good form
Shane Lowry slips six shots off the pace after error-strewn Arnold Palmer Invitational third round
Shane Lowry goes top of leaderboard at Arnold Palmer Invitational after 67
Certainly, McIlroy wasn’t intent on lingering too much on what transpired in the Arnold Palmer Invitational. “It’s really just sort of move on from this week and put in a good three days of work to get ready for next Thursday,” said McIlroy, who – as one of the named featured groups in Sawgrass – will be playing with Scheffler and Xander Schauffele for the opening two rounds at The Players.
McIlroy is undecided on whether or not to add another tournament on to his schedule ahead of the Masters but does plan on making one or two advance visits to Augusta National in preparation: “I think it’s just going to be a little bit different this year, just with there’s some areas of the course that are maybe a little thinner tree-wise, just with the hurricane that rolled through; 16’s a new green, so I’ll probably go up there once or twice beforehand.”
As for Sawgrass, McIlroy knows what to expect of a course where he initially struggled before getting to grips with its examination, winning in 2019, but since then has missing two cuts at the venue.
Lowry’s initial appearances at Sawgrass proved frustrating – with three missed cuts in his first five appearances – but has proved more consistent in recent years with a top-10 in 2021 followed by finishing positions of 13th-35th-19th.
The Offaly man’s good form of late has moved him to a career best 14th in the official world rankings and has seen him improve to 10th on the FedEx Cup standings. Lowry has also moved up one spot to fourth on the updated Europe Ryder Cup standings, which are headed by McIlroy.
Power didn’t get into the field for last week’s API but returns to action in The Players where he has struggled so far in his career, with a best finish of tied-33rd in 2022.
For Henley, his vastly improved form, capped off with the win at Bay Hill, has seen the American move to a career best seventh on the official world rankings.
“I don’t really feel like a top-10 player. I have so much respect for this game and all these amazing players, and it’s just, it’s so difficult to even put yourself in the position to try to win a golf tournament in these, on the PGA Tour. I definitely don’t feel like it. I guess the rankings would tell you that ... so it’s hard for me to kind of comprehend that,” he said of reaching new heights.
