Rory McIlroy WITB: February 2025
Take a look inside the bag of TaylorMade staff player Rory McIlroy, fresh off landing his 27th PGA Tour title at the AT&T Pebble Beach Pro-Am.
Rory McIlroy battled through challenging conditions and a packed leaderboard to capture his 27th career PGA Tour victory and first ever at the AT&T Pebble Beach Pro-Am.
McIlroy, 35, fired a brilliant 6-under 66 in the final round to win by two shots on 21-under par.
The win marks McIlroy eighth straight season with a victory on the PGA Tour.
McIlroy sealed the victory with four birdies or better with his new TP5 golf ball on the first seven holes of the back nine including a 27-foot eagle putt on 14 and a birdie on 15 after stuffing his Milled Grind 4 wedge to four feet.
Prior to that, McIlroy began to stretch his lead with a nine-foot birdie putt on 12 and another birdie from downtown on 10 from 18 feet.
McIlroy's 27th career PGA Tour win since 2010 is five more than any other player in that span and his 15th when trailing entering the final round, which is seven more than any other player.
BEHIND THE SWITCH TO TP5
The backstory of McIlroy's win at iconic Pebble Beach starts with a practice day at Michael Jordan's golf course a week before the event.
As McIlroy was working on the short game area, he hit a few shots around the green and was intrigued by the feel of the TP5.
"I sort of stumbled upon (TP5). I just started to hit some chip shots with the TP5 instead of the TP5x and I really loved how it felt. I hadn't really tested the 2024 TP5 and I loved how it was reacting around the greens. Then I started hitting some 60, 70-yard shots with it and it was coming off much lower launch but spinnier."
Rory McIlroy
Age | 35 |
Turned pro | 2007 |
Major wins | 4 |
PGA Tour wins | 27 |
DP World Tour wins | 18 |
In testing with full iron shots, launch angle with TP5 was about a degree lower while spin rates matched his TP5x. With the benefits around the greens of the softer TP5, McIlroy retained the ball speed with his driver that he possessed with TP5x.
Once his initial testing session was over, when Rory arrived at Pebble he TP5 through its paces during his Tuesday practice at Pebble.
After a late afternoon 18-hole spin around the Monterey Peninsula, TP5 was in the bag.
“I thought, you know, I’ve got four rounds this week, no cut, you know, may as well give it a go,” said McIlroy.
Perhaps as a precursor of what was to come, during his practice round on Tuesday McIlroy holed out from a greenside bunker on the fifth hole. Then, less than 48 hours later on his sixth hole of his first round with TP5, McIlroy dunked his tee shot on the par-3 15th at Spyglass Hill.
Statistically speaking, in the third round McIlroy finished second in the field in Strokes Gained: Around the Green at 2.429 with the benefits of the soft feel he saw at MJ’s place.
As he said during his assessment of the switch on Thursday, McIlroy’s driving continued to thrive at Pebble Beach leading the field in Strokes Gained: Off the Tee (6.173) and Driving Distance (336.70).
After winning four times with Spider Tour X in 2024, McIlroy notched yet another victory with his Spider. For the tournament, McIlroy made 15 birdies or better from 6+ feet including four from 25+ feet. He finished seventh in SG: Putting at 4.303.
In the final round, McIlroy made three birdies or better from 12+ feet including a leaderboard separating 17-foot-7-inch birdie on 10 and 26-foot-7 inch eagle on 14.
He had three eagles or better for the week, which marks the third time since 2020 he has done so. McIlroy won the other two events where that feat occurred (2021 CJ Cup, 2024 Wells Fargo).
Rory McIlroy's Putter Specs
- HOSEL: Short Slant
- SIGHT LINE: Full Line
- INSERT: Pure Roll
- SHAFT: Black Stepless
- LENGTH: 34 1/2 EOG
- LOFT: 3°
- LIE: 69.5°
- SWINGWEIGHT: E0
- GRIP: SuperStroke Pistol Tour
- WRAPS: 1
WHY McILROY BENT HIS LOB WEDGE TO 61°
McIlroy has played a MG4 60° LB wedge before and loved the transition and leading edge of that model. When he came up with the idea of switching to a 61° wedge before the start of the season, this model with this shape, sole and leading edge worked best.
"Rory wants to stick with one wedge and this model was by far the most versatile," said Keith Sbarbaro, TaylorMade Vice President of Tour Operations. It doesn’t catch in the grain, and has low enough bounce to perform well on tight grass like at The Masters. It produces a lot of spin, including the incredible chip on 17 at the Ryder Cup he hit with a similar version. The 61° also makes hitting the 40-70 yard shots much easier. He can put more of a hit on it to get the lower launch and spin than he could at 59°.
Rory McIlroy WITB February 2025
Driver: TaylorMade Qi10 (9 degrees; Fujikura Ventus Black 6 X)
3-wood: TaylorMade Qi10 (15 degrees; Fujikura Ventus Black 8 X)
5-wood: TaylorMade Qi10 (18 degrees; Fujikura Ventus Black 9 X)
Irons: TaylorMade P·760 (4), TaylorMade Rors Proto (5-9; Project X 7.0)
Wedges: TaylorMade MG4 (46-09SB, 50-09SB, 54-11SB) Titleist Vokey Design WedgeWorks (58-K); Project X 6.5
Putter: TaylorMade Spider Tour X
Ball: TaylorMade TP5
Andy first joined the brand on a month's work experience back in April 2011, and he now assumes the Editor role. When Andy joined GolfMagic it was a small site with potential.
