Rory McIlroy will be among the favourites at the US Open next week – and the Northern Irishman is using the Canadian Open to trial a new club ahead of driving at Oakmont

Rory McIlroy is playing with a different driver at the Canadian Open(Image: Julian Avram/Getty Images)

Rory McIlroy has made the decision to change his driver in the run-up to the US Open. McIlroy is currently competing at the Canadian Open and is using the tournament to try out a different club ahead of the US Open at Oakmont Country Club next week.

The Northern Irishman has endured a difficult spell with his driver of late, after his previous club failed an inspection before last month’s US PGA Championship. His driver was taken off him two days before the tournament after testing showed it had become more springy than allowed.

He later admitted he was “p***ed off” the news of the failure had leaked into the media – and McIlroy is now having to make changes in response. He has swapped the TaylorMade Qi10 driver, which he used to win the Masters in April, for the brand’s newer Qi35 model.

McIlroy tried it out at Oakmont last week before giving it its first official test at the RBC Canadian Open at TPC Toronto at Osprey Valley, where he hit an opening-round 1-over round of 71.

“It was my first outing with a new driver, and I felt like that went pretty well,” he said after hitting nine of 14 fairways. “I hit some drives that I liked and that I liked to see, so that was encouraging.

“It’s hard with the driver – the one I had been playing with previously, when I missed it, I was a little bit left. Then my miss with this one is a little bit right. It’s just trying to figure that out and manage it a little bit. It’s a nice feeling to get up the middle of the fairway and fully release it and know it’s not going to go left on you.”

The Qi35 isn’t too different from McIlroy’s old Qi10, with the same nine degrees of loft and the same Fujikura Ventus Black shaft. However, it is slightly shorter, which he hopes will give him more control off the tee at the US Open, where he triumphed in 2011.

 Rory McIlroy has a slightly shorter driver(Image: Julian Avram/Getty Images)

It’s not entirely new to him. McIlroy used the Qi35 at the Arnold Palmer Invitational earlier in the season, but the switch comes after his old Qi10 failed a routine test before the US PGA Championship.

McIlroy was irritated that the news – which is supposed to stay confidential – was leaked and refused to speak to reporters at the tournament. “It was supposed to stay confidential,” he said.

“Two members of the media were the ones that leaked it. I didn’t want to get up there and say something that I regretted, either, because I’m trying to protect Scottie [Scheffler].

“I’m trying to protect TaylorMade. I’m trying to protect the USGA, PGA of America, myself. I just didn’t want to get up there and say something that I regretted at the time.”