The talk of Rory McIlroy winning The Masters always crops up around this time of year, with the four-time Major winner looking to win at Augusta National to complete the career Grand Slam.
So far, in 2025, McIlroy already has one notable victory at the AT&T Pebble Beach Pro-Am and, ahead of The Masters, the 35-year-old is keeping a trusty piece of equipment in the golf bag.
At the Arnold Palmer Invitational, McIlroy was seen using new TaylorMade equipment, specifically a Qi35 driver and fairway woods. However, for the final day, he decided to replace them all and move back to the TaylorMade Qi10.
Speaking after his round, the 27-time PGA Tour winner stated: "(I'm) going back to what I'm comfortable with. 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.
"I led strokes gained off the tee in both Pebble and Torrey (Genesis Invitational), so it was a really good idea to change (laughing). Yesterday, 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 and what's comfortable as I felt like I was just scrambling all weekend, just trying to save par and pick up the odd birdie here and there.
"There's pros and cons to it (using new equipment), and it's a blessing and a curse at the same time that we sort of have to go through these 12-month club cycles. I probably just didn't give myself enough time and, you know, it can look good on the Trackman and it can look good on the range at home at the Bear's Club or on the golf course, but once you get out here in these conditions that's where it really shows itself and it just wasn't quite ready."
In 2024, McIlroy ranked fourth overall for Strokes Gained: Off The Tee with 0.730. In 2025, the Northern Irishman ranks first with a number of 1.323.
Although those numbers are positive, he did only average 1.079 for Strokes Gained: Off The Tee for the week, with the worst round at Bay Hill being the final day, where he averaged -0.226 in that category.
Confirming that the move back to older equipment will be in place at the men's first Major of the year in early April, McIlroy will yet again be one of the favorites going into The Masters, a tournament where his best result was a solo second in 2022.
Speaking about preparation in the run-up to Augusta National, the four-time Major winner explained that "I'll see how next week (The Players Championship) goes and then just sort of see what I feel like and what I think I need.
"(The) Nice thing is I don't have to enter (events) until the Friday before. I think it's (The Masters) 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, yeah, I'll probably go up there once or twice beforehand."
