Rory McIlroy Makes Drastic Equipment Changes Prior To Arnold Palmer Invitational Final Round

Rory McIlroy strikes a tee shot with a driver.

Going into the weekend at the Arnold Palmer Invitational, Rory McIlroy was in contention for yet another PGA Tour title but, after a one-over 73 on Saturday, he dropped down the leaderboard.

Equipment plays a huge part in a player's confidence and, after changing his clubs at the start of the week, it was reported that McIlroy then made some significant changes to his equipment, yet again, prior to his final day at Bay Hill.

(Image credit: Getty Images)

According to the Golf Channel's commentary team, the four-time Major winner reportedly changed his driver, 3-wood, 5-wood and 3-iron before the final round on Sunday, with McIlroy also adding a gap wedge to his set-up.

At the start of the week at the Arnold Palmer Invitational, McIlroy was seen using a custom TaylorMade Qi35 'Dot' head coupled with a Fujikura Ventus VeloCore+ Black shaft, as well as two Qi35 fairway woods.

However, on Sunday, he was then spotted using the older TaylorMade Qi10 driver, as well as the Qi10 fairway woods round the Florida layout.

Robert MacIntyre and McIlroy during the final round of the Arnold Palmer Invitational (Image credit: Getty Images)

Reportedly, it's a similar set-up to that which he used at the AT&T Pebble Beach Pro-Am, an event he won in dominant fashion after rounds of 66, 70, 65 and 66.

Along with the various club changes, McIlroy also made a golf ball swap prior to his victory at Pebble Beach, with the 35-year-old changing to the TaylorMade TP5.

During pre-season tests a year ago, McIlroy and TaylorMade noticed the TP5X (2024) had resulted in a fraction more distance gained. However, McIlroy began hitting shots with the firmer, lower launching TP5 (2024) and liked what he felt and what he saw, so he opted to put it into play.