McIlroy

A switch to Fujikura's Ventus TR Blue shaft in his Stealth 2 Plus 3-wood at the Players Championship led McIlroy to wonder if the shaft could improve his driver ...

[final edition of the Match Play](https://golf.com/news/tour-confidential-final-match-play-liv-ratings-champions-dinner/) in the rearview, McIlroy turns his sights to the Masters where extra distance always comes in handy. A day later, McIlroy uncorked a 400-plus yard drive on the downhill par-5 12th that [landed beyond the cart](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5mFkm0ApZ5E) path on the fly. With a deadly driver and reliable putter, things are looking up for McIlroy as he chases the final leg of the career grand slam. In McIlroy’s case, his [speed didn’t suffer](https://twitter.com/PGATOUR/status/1639682138327924736) in Austin. [within 3 feet of the hole](https://golf.com/news/one-best-drives-history-rory-mcilroy-incredible/) for an improbable eagle. (He was previously playing Ventus Black in the driver.) “[The Blue] still has that real stable feel in the handle. I put it (the TR Blue) in the 3-wood at the Players, and it’s just like, because I’m liking playing the driver shorter these days, and that Black shaft just got so boardy. “It’s a bit more of a lively feel. (Although, the wand did Instead, we’re going to focus on another club that underwent a change leading up to McIlroy’s arrival in Austin. It wasn’t until McIlroy returned home to test different driver builds that things finally clicked.

RORY McILROY kicked himself for damaging his Masters preparation by throwing away a place in the World Match Play final.The world No 3 was two up wi.

The Masters champion missed a four-footer to win the match on the 20th and was KO’d by Burns’ birdie at the next He was still six inches closer to the flag after three shots than his opponent but had to settle for a spot in the third and fourth place play-off against world McIlroy had lost the hole in regulation play with a bogey six — after firing his second shot from the sand into a lake — and this time he bailed out well to the right. [world No 3](https://www.thesun.ie/who/rory-mcilroy/) was two up with three to play against Cameron Young in his semi-final — but he failed to match his opponent’s birdies at the 16th and 18th and the American won the first extra hole. RORY McILROY kicked himself for damaging his Masters preparation by throwing away a place in the World Match Play final. Rory McIlroy left kicking himself for damaging his Masters preparation with letdown at The World Match Play

McIlroy was beaten by Cameron Young before bouncing back to claim third in the play-off with Scottie Scheffler.

To be able to battle with him today, it was a blast.” “I felt like I found something towards the end of my match with Scottie and was able to carry that on this afternoon. “It means a lot. It was good to see that after struggling at The Players.” “We played 54 holes in two days, and it was good. “There are a ton of positives to take away.

Rory McIlroy took a “ton of positives” from the final WGC-Dell Technologies Match Play despite having to settle for third place as the title fell to Sam ...

So for the first week out I thought both ends of the bag, the driver and the putter, worked pretty well and I thought most aspects of the game were in good shape.” “Yeah, all eyes on Augusta and just making sure that the game's ready. “Yeah, a ton of positives to take away,” said the four-time major winner.

Rory McIlroy is taking "tons of positives" from his performance at the WGC Match Play and feels his ...

In the third-place playoff, McIlroy took the lead on the first hole and maintained the advantage throughout, and when Scheffler birdied the 12th to try and tie things up, McIlroy responded with an eagle to instead go 2up and take the 2-1 win. Young needed to win the 18th hole to tie things up, and he did so with a birdie, which he followed with a birdie on the extra hole to advance. The seesawing contest saw Burns take the 13th and 15th to tie it up, and he pulled ahead with a birdie on 17, before Scheffler responded with a birdie on 18 to take it to extra holes.

McIlroy beat World No. 1 Scottie Scheffler in the third-place play-of at the World Match Play.

I was really happy where my game was, and it was good to see that after struggling at The Players." McIlroy appeared to neither confirm or deny the rumour when questioned about his time at Augusta National. "The one thing about Augusta is you can’t go in too over confident. I think my game is in really good shape so just keep it ticking over, work on the shots I need for Augusta and away we go." Twelve months ago the Northern Irish star came closest to completing the career Grand Slam but finished three shots behind Scheffler. "Yeah, look, I had two good days,” he told the Telegraph's James Corrigan.

As the Masters approaches, so too does the conversation of whether Rory McIlroy can finally win one.