Rory McIlroy Foregoes Driver in First Round of DP World India Championship
New Delhi, India – Rory McIlroy surprised onlookers Thursday at the DP World India Championship by choosing to play without a driver in his bag. The decision, foreshadowed by McIlroy joking he wouldn’t hit a driver again until the Abu Dhabi tournament, proved prosperous as he carded a three-under 69.
McIlroy explained his strategy stemmed from the course’s demands. “I was thinking about it last night before I went to bed, it was just, like, sometimes if I’m really conservative off a par-five tee I might need a 5-wood into the green, but I’m never going to hit driver,” he said in a post-round interview with the DP World Tour. He felt a 2-iron through 4-iron, coupled with a 5-wood for approach shots, provided sufficient distance, noting he didn’t foresee needing more then 260-270 yards off the tee.
The Northern Irishman emphasized the importance of finding the fairway at delhi Golf club, citing “proper rough” that yielded unpredictable lies and fliers. “You just have to get the ball in the fairway,” McIlroy stated. ”The rough is unpredictable. You get a lot of fliers like I did the last two there.”
He also highlighted the challenges presented by the course’s greens, describing them as grainy, impacting putting speeds. “The greens are so grainy that uphill putts are very slow, but then if you get it above the hole, the downhill putts with the downgrain get very, very quick, so leaving yourself below the hole is pretty crucial, as well.”
Despite the favorable score, McIlroy acknowledged the difficulty of the course, particularly with challenging pin placements. “It’s pretty tricky,” he said. “You’re just really trying to be as conservative as possible off the tee and then trying to pick off birdies on the par fives and maybe pick up a couple more. It’s a tricky golf course.” he added, ”I thought some of the hole locations early on were really tricky. The course definitely played a little tougher than I expected it to be.”
