Sarcastic Rory McIlroy to reporter: “It was a really good idea to change!”

Rory McIlroy has revealed why he decided not to use the new TaylorMade woods for all four rounds of the Arnold Palmer Invitational at Bay Hill.

Rory McIlroy has revealed he’ll stick with his old driver for the 2025 Masters. 

McIlroy finally put the new TaylorMade driver and fairway woods into his bag for the Arnold Palmer Invitational.

The Northern Irishman replaced his Qi10 driver, Qi10 3-wood and Qi10 5-wood with the brand new Qi35 driver, Qi35 3-wood and a Qi35 4-wood.

But he only had them in play for 54 holes.

[I am] sort of going back to what I’m comfortable with,” he told reporters on Sunday after finishing in a tie for 15th at Bay Hill.

I tried new woods for the first three days [and it] didn’t quite work out the way I wanted it to. So, yeah, I went back to my old stuff today.”

McIlroy led the field in strokes gained off the tee for his most recent victory at the AT&T Pebble Beach Pro-Am.

But he ranked 50th overall in that department last week, only finding 24 of 56 fairways.

“So it was a really good idea to change,” McIlroy joked.

“And then, like yesterday, I lost strokes off the tee, which is the first time I’ve done that in a long time.

“Yeah, just went back to what was familiar and what’s comfortable.”

McIlroy said he felt as though he was scrambling all week.

And he has confirmed that he won’t be doing any more tinkering until after the 2025 Masters.

McIlroy said he will make at least one more reconnaissance trip to Augusta National before the first major of the year.

And he is currently undecided as to whether he will play any more PGA Tour events before the trip to Georgia apart from next week’s Players Championship at TPC Sawgrass.

In the past, the Valero Texas Open has frequently featured in his schedule.