Rory McIlroy’s driver woes have persisted as The Masters champion missed the cut at the Canadian Open, less than a week out from the next major, the US Open.
McIlroy somewhat surprisingly spoke to the media after he shot an eight-over par second round of 78 to be +9 after 36 holes, saying his poor form is “a concern going into next week”.
The world No.2 finished 11 shots off the cut line, and he was 149th in a field of 153 who completed two rounds.
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It was the first time he has missed a cut since last year’s Open Championship at Royal Troon.
He was also miles behind leader Cameron Champ at -12, who fired bogey free rounds of 62 and 66 to start the tournament after incredibly being the eighth alternate.
LEADERBOARD: All the scores from the Canadian Open
McIlroy refused to partake in press conferences at the PGA Championship as he scraped into the weekend action and failed to make charge as he was angered by the story of his non-conforming driver hitting the press.
Since testing in the days leading up to the second major of the year forced a change to his big stick, McIlroy has struggled immensely off the tee.
He was routinely pulling his drives left at Quail Hollow, and he sprayed them again at TPC Toronto – his first start since the PGA after causing a stir for skipping last week’s The Memorial without informing host Jack Nicklaus – hitting just 13 of 28 fairways across the two rounds to rank tied 142nd for driving accuracy.
“You don’t want to shoot high scores like the one I did today,” McIlroy said.
“Still I felt like I came here obviously with a new driver thinking that 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. Still sort of searching for the sort of 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.”
McIlroy’s tournament derailed with a horror show quadruple bogey at the par 4 fifth.
This time his driver missed right, he then rocketed his approach out of the rough from 130 yards way over the heads of the spectators at the back of the green.
He hit a provisional, which also sailed long, but was at least in play.
Rory McIlroy reacts to his approach shot from the deep rough on the fifth hole during the second round of the Canadian Open golf tournament in Caledon, Ontario, Friday, June 6, 2025. (Nathan Denette/The Canadian Press via AP)Source: AP
McIlroy then blasted his chip over the front of the green, finally chipped onto the putting surfaces and then two-putted for an eight.
“I think, once I made that big number on the front nine, I was always behind the 8 ball a little bit,” he said.
“After nine holes, I sort of resigned myself to the fact that I’d be flying home to Florida tonight.”
McIlroy opens up on illegal driver | 01:10
Remarkably, McIlroy’s eight was not even close to the highest score on a single hole for the day – that unfortunate feat belonged to Frenchman Matthieu Pavon who began his second round with a 12 at the par 4 10th.
On the hole ranked the hardest at TPC Toronto, Pavon, who finished fifth at last year’s US Open, needed two attempts to punch out after a wayward tee shot.
He then dumped three balls into the water before finally reaching the green with his tenth shot.
A regulation two putts followed to be eight-over par for the round after just one hole.
Impressively, Pavon responded to his nightmare start with back-to-back birdies but he eventually signed off on a ten-over par round of 80.
Four more bogeys, and a double bogey at the par 3 11th courtesy of a water ball, followed for McIlroy as his round spiralled out of control.
McIlroy was left scratching his head throughout, and said that his weekend will now be spent trying to find the right answer to his driver woes.
“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,” he said.
“But if I’m going to miss fairways, I’d rather have the ball speed and miss the fairway than not.
“I was saying to Harry going down the last this is the second time this year I’ve tried the new version, and it hasn’t quite worked out for me.
“So I’d say I’ll be testing quite a few drivers over the weekend.”
Rory McIlroy hits a chip shot from the rough on the fifth hole during the second round of the Canadian Open golf tournament in Caledon, Ontario, Friday, June 6, 2025. (Nathan Denette/The Canadian Press via AP)Source: AP
No Australians made the cut with Harrison Endycott nearest, missing by a shot at -2.
Veteran Aaron Baddeley and PGA Tour rookie Karl Vilips were further back at +2.
