Northern Ireland’s Rory McIlroy says he is “concerned” by his form heading into the US Open next week after struggling with driver issues at the Canadian Open.
The 36-year-old missed the cut at the Canadian Open on Friday, finishing nine over par and 149th in a 153-man field.
The Masters champion shot an eight-over-par 78 during his second round as he struggled to get to grips with a new driver.
McIlroy’s previous driver was ruled non-conforming on the eve of last month’s US PGA Championship, with the Northern Irishman going on to finish 47th in North Carolina.
With a new 44-inch driver in hand, McIlroy found just 13 of 28 fairways in Toronto and he made a quadruple-bogey eight on the par-four fifth hole after a disastrous tee-off.
“Of course it concerns me,” said McIlroy.
“You don’t want to shoot high scores like the one I did today. I felt like I came here, obviously with a new driver, thinking that sort of was going to be good and solve some of the problems off the tee, but it didn’t.
“Obviously going to Oakmont next week, what you need to do more than anything else there is hit fairways. I’m still sort of searching for the missing piece off the tee. Obviously for me, when I get that part of the game clicking, then everything falls into place for me. Right now that isn’t. Yeah, that’s a concern going into next week.”
With play starting on 12 June, McIlroy has little time to iron out his issues from the tee.
But the five-time Major winner says he will test several drivers in the coming days to find the right one.
“I’m going to have to do a lot of practice and a lot of work over the weekend at home and try to at least have a better idea of where my game is going into next week,” said McIlroy.
“I went back to a 44-inch driver this week to try to get something that was a little more in control and could try to get something a bit more in play. But if I’m going to miss fairways, I’d rather have the ball speed and miss the fairway than not.
“I’d say I’ll be testing quite a few drivers over the weekend.”
