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NEWS FROM THE TOUR VANS
BROUGHT TO YOU BY GOLF PRIDE, THE #1 GRIP ON TOUR
The Wells Fargo Championship, which was to have been contested last week, has been a key event in the ascension of current world No. 1 Rory McIlroy. He captured his first PGA Tour title at Quail Hollow back in 2010, lost in a playoff there to Rickie Fowler in 2012 and then earned another title by posting a tournament-record, 21-under 267 to blow away the field in 2015. He has seven top-10 finishes in nine appearances, becoming a Charlotte, N.C., staple in the process.
That splendid run covers every era of McIlroy’s equipment journey, an exploration that is worth revisiting.
McIlroy, whose best amateur days featured him using a Titleist 905 driver, Titleist 660 forged blade irons and a Scotty Cameron putter, started his professional play as a full Titleist staffer. When he came on the scene in 2007, he was using the brand’s 907D2 driver, 906 fairway woods, a 585 hybrid, the same 660 irons he used as an amateur, Vokey wedges and a Pro V1x ball.
The Ulsterman had a ton of success using Titleist clubs in the next six years, tweaking slightly as he went along. When he won the 2011 U.S. Open at Congressional for his first major championship, he still was using the same 906 fairway woods – a much older model that dated to 2006 – but had transitioned most of his other equipment; McIlroy used a 910D2 driver, 710 MB blades and a Scotty Cameron Studio Select Newport GSS. Memorably, all of his clubs were fitted with yellow multi compound Golf Pride grips.
His bag for the 2012 PGA Championship win at Kiawah Island also was all Titleist but with mostly updated versions of clubs. The 913D3 driver, 712MB irons, Vokey SM4 wedges had changed, while he kept his trusty 906 3-wood.
In 2013, McIlroy signed a full equipment and apparel contract with Nike despite just having won a major championship in runaway fashion. His setup at the time was the company’s VRS Covert driver, VR Limited fairway woods, VR Pro blade irons, VR Pro wedges and a Nike Method putter.
The early returns were concerning, at least by Rory McIlroy standards. He fell from No. 1 in the world to No. 6 with his only win coming late in the calendar at the Australian Open.
A year later, he came back with vengeance to win two more majors. McIlroy added the VRS Covert Tour driver, VRS Covert fairway woods and went to the Nike RZN Black ball.
McIlroy had strong campaigns in 2015 and 2016 while only slightly adjusting his Nike bag. He added a Vapor Fly Prototype driver, Vapor Speed fairway woods, an Engage wedge and a RZN Prototype ball. When Nike announced it no longer would make golf equipment, McIlroy started to test new equipment during 2016.
Having used TaylorMade woods late in 2016 at the WGC-HSBC Champions in China, McIlroy stunned many by starting 2017 with a mixed Callaway and Titleist bag. He came to the South African Open with Callaway Epic woods, Callaway Apex MB irons, Titleist Vokey SM6 wedges, an Odyssey putter and Pro V1x ball. Equipment indecision, coupled with a rib injury, led to a winless 2017 and saw McIlroy fall out of the top 10 in the world.
McIlroy signed a deal with TaylorMade in 2017 to make him a full staff member. He started with the brand’s M2 driver and Tour fairway woods, RORS Proto irons, Milled Grind wedges, a Juno putter and TP5x ball.
Since 2018, McIlroy has been on a successful run while remaining true to TaylorMade. He currently has the company’s SIM driver and 3-wood, SIM Max hybrid, P760 and P730 irons, Milled Grind wedges, Spider X Copper putter and TP5 ball.
Sean Fairholm