Rory McIlroy Explains Latest Gear Change Ahead Of Truist Championship

Rory McIlroy makes his first start since winning The Masters last month at a very familiar venue, and he'll be doing so with some fresh sticks in the bag.

The six-time Major champion is the tournament favorite this week at Quail Hollow, coined 'Rory McIlroy Country Club', having won four times around the Charlotte, North Carolina course in 2010, 2015, 2021 and 2024.

McIlroy regularly makes equipment changes, including at Augusta where he went back to a TaylorMade Qi10 3 wood, and he has made another tweak to his set-up following The Masters.

The Northern Irishman has taken the Qi10 out this week for the Truist Championship and has gone back to the 2026 Qi4D fairway wood model, although it is a different head to the previous 4D he had in the bag to start the year.

The original Qi4D was benched due to a slight left bias, McIlroy revealed, while he says the Qi10 it was replaced with did not spin enough.

Speaking to media ahead on Wednesday, he revealed he also had a new set of Rors Proto irons and explained his 3-wood changes this year.

"Yeah, so I had been using the [Qi]4D 3-wood at the start of the season. I noticed that it just had a little bit of a left bias in it," he said.

"So I went back to an old Qi10 for a while. But it really wasn't spinning enough. It's more like a mini driver than a 3-wood. It sort of spins like 2,700, it's pretty fast. It could be a good club for like Memorial, for example.

"But I felt like I needed a 3-wood that just spun a little bit more. So the TaylorMade guys were down working with me last week because I needed to get into a new set of irons too. So I got a fresh set of irons.

"So they brought a couple of 3-wood options along and I landed on this one. It doesn't have that left bias I was seeing with the old 4D 3-wood.

"And it's got a nice consistent spin rate sort of like 3,200, which is what I like to see."

He has had three weeks off since winning for the second time at Augusta, where he became the fourth back-to-back winner alongside Jack Nicklaus, Sir Nick Faldo and Tiger Woods.

As well as testing equipment at home in Florida, he also took a trip to New York and was spotted at the White House, where President Trump publicly congratulated him on his Masters victory.

"It's been amazing," McIlroy said of his sixth Major victory.

"Maybe not quite as hectic as last year. I think this win felt a little bit different than the first win at Augusta.

"It's been really nice to spend time at home. I've done a couple of things, but I certainly haven't, you know, I didn't do the media trip up to New York.

"It was nice, my parents were in the States, so I didn't have to fly home and see them. It was nice to just get a little bit of down time and chill.

"Did some fun stuff. Erica and I took a trip to New York, which was nice. Then did the State Dinner at the Whitehouse last Tuesday night, which was an amazing evening.

"So fit in some fun stuff. But I gave myself a good 10 days to enjoy myself and then thought it was, you know, I needed to get back on the range and start to practice and get ready for this stretch coming up."

McIlroy plays alongside Matt Fitzpatrick for the opening two rounds at Quail Hollow.