Rory McIlroy has conducted something of a spring clean in terms of his equipment, with a new TaylorMade Qi35 dot driver and fairway woods in his bag for the Arnold Palmer Invitational at Bay Hill, where he will have Shane Lowry as company for the opening two rounds as he seeks to maintain a strong formline at the Orlando venue.
A winner in 2018, McIlroy has six top-10s in his last eight starts at the API, and the world number two – already a winner on the PGA Tour this season at last month’s AT&T Pebble Beach pro-am – has bolstered his armoury for this latest tilt at one of the $20 million signature events on the US circuit.
McIlroy changed his ball ahead of that win in California, and that has resulted in the knock-on change to going back to three wedges and now changing the make-up of his longer clubs.
“I sort of had to look at the top end of the bag then of how I was going to configure it. For a while I’ve been looking for a club that sort of carries 300 in the air. I feel like there’s a lot of golf courses we go to that really pinch in at like 310, 320, and I would hit a 3-wood ... I can’t hit a driver because it’s just too narrow, but then I would hit my 3-wood that’s going like 285, 290, but guys that are shorter than me are hitting driver sort of 300 or 310, so I feel like I was at a disadvantage in some ways, even to people that hit it shorter than me depending upon the course set-up.
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“So I messed around with the mini driver last year, but I just couldn’t quite get comfortable with it. So I’ve sort of been playing around with stronger 3-woods. This 3-wood that I have carries like 300, 305 in the air, which is a really, really good club for me to have. And then I’ve went from a 5-wood to a 4-wood. And that 4-wood sort of bridges that gap. And then I’ve got the 3-iron that sort of replaces the 5-wood,” said McIlroy.
World number one Scottie Scheffler made an equipment change a year ago in taking McIlroy’s advice to put a TaylorMade Spider into his bag − the inclusion of that mallet putter resulting in a stellar year for the American.
Reflecting back on that putter change, Scheffler – fully fit again having been forced to miss a couple of early-season tournaments due to a hand injury which required minor surgery – said: “When I look back to a year from now I think about how different I feel over the ball on the greens.
“Any time the ball’s not going in the hole I think you – myself especially – you try and do anything you can to almost force the ball in there, and that’s not how golf is, you can’t force things in this sport. You especially can’t force things at PGA Tour events. Feeling more free, not lining up the ball, just getting over, leaning into my athleticism and focusing as much as I can out there on just playing the game. Those are some of the big differences for me when I look back to where I was a year ago.”
The Lowdown - Arnold Palmer Invitational
Purse: €18.6 million (€3.7m to the winner).
Where: Orlando, Florida, USA.
The course: Known as “Arnie’s Place” for its long-time association with Arnold Palmer, Bay Hill – 7,466 yards and Par 72 – was designed by Dick Wilson and Joe Lee and features copious water hazards. The finishing two holes typically provide for exciting finishes to a tournament with a rich history, held at the venue every year since 1979. The Par 3 17th measures 221 yards from an elevated tee to a green which has water lurking on three sides, and the once large bunker to the front (an integral part of Palmer’s thinking) is no more, having been removed and replaced by rough. The Par 4 18th is a 458-yard hole that features a slightly blind tee shot to the fairway and an approach to a long, narrow green that again has water in play down the right.
The field: Quite literally a loaded field, the tournament’s designated elevated status on the PGA Tour bringing all of the highrollers to Orlando, headed by world number one Scottie Scheffler and world number two Rory McIlroy. Xander Schauffele is recovered from a rib injury that has kept him sidelined since the season-opening Sentry in Hawaii. Nine of the world’s top 10 and 23 of the top 25 are playing.
Quote-Unquote: “You can’t speak enough of what Arnold Palmer and his legacy means to our game. I sort of try to do it the way that he does it, or the way he did it, which was amazing. If you can slightly do it the way that he did it I think you’re going to be pretty good” – Ludvig Aberg, the current FedEx Cup points leader, on following in Palmer’s footsteps.
Irish in the field: Shane Lowry and Rory McIlroy are paired together for the first two rounds (1st round tee time 6pm Irish time on Thursday).
Betting: Scottie Scheffler, still chasing a first win of the season, is installed as a tight 10/3 favourite as he bids to successfully defend the title he won last year, while Rory McIlroy – another past winner – is a 15/2 shot. Ludvig Aberg’s strong start to the season, marked by a win in The Genesis on his recovery from illness, has the Swede rated a decent-looking 14/1. Shane Lowry is available at 28/1 and his closing round at last week’s Cognizant makes those odds tempting. The value bet looks to be that of Maverick McNealy (runner-up to Aberg in the Genesis) who is priced at 45/1 (each way).
On TV: On Sky Sports Golf (from 7pm).
