Rory McIlroy, Collin Morikawa switches back to TaylorMade SIM 1 driver from stealth model

Rory McIlroy and Collin Morikawa have switched back to TaylorMade SIM 1 from the Stealth model, signaling their disappointment with TaylorMade's latest driver.

Rory was not happy with the driving of TaylorMade's newer model. He has been using TaylorMade Stealth Plus since the beginning of 2022.

Rory's first round of The Players Championship was mediocre as he posted a score of 76, hitting only six of the 14 fairways.

“I feel like this is as penal as I’ve seen it out of the rough for a long time. You don’t hit it on the fairway here, you’re going to struggle,” Rory was quoted as saying later.

Morikawa failed to make a cut in the Arnold Palmer Invitational. This made him rethink his driver TaylorMade Stealth Plus 2 and he decided to go back to the TaylorMade SIM driver, which he used during his successful run at the 2020 PGA Championship and 2021 Open Championship.

The driver switch seemed to be working for Morikawa as he carded the first round of 7-under 65 at TPC Sawgrass to end the day in solo second place.

“I wish I could use my driver from last year, but you use a driver for so long – basically, it just wouldn’t pass the test,” said Rory.

He added that the driver's head is so selective that it's not easy to get the same but he was trying to get as close as what he had last year.

McIlroy jokingly stated that Tiger Woods outdriving him at Riveria was the reason for his driver switch. However, he explained the reasoning behind the move in his post-round interview at Sawgrass.

“They were testing drivers at Riviera, but I just didn’t even want to take the chance,” said the 2019 Players champion. “I just was not comfortable knowing that it could fail. Doesn’t look good on me. Doesn’t look good on TaylorMade.”

McIlroy said that the company’s newest model doesn’t have “a lot of left in it,” allowing him to eliminate that side of the course.

---

Collin Morikawa shoots 65 as Chad Ramey leads after Day 1 at The Players Championship

Chad Ramey during The Players Championship, round 1

Chad Ramey hit an impressive 8-under 64 on the first day of The Players Championship at TPC Sawgrass to secure a single-stroke lead over Collin Morikawa. The Players rookie birdied 8 holes and had no bogey in the first round.

Ramey said it wasn't as easy as the scorecard was suggesting.

He said:

“I might have made it look that way but it wasn't easy at all. It was fun, first time to shoot a score on such an iconic course like this. You can't ask for any more.”

Morikawa hit 15 greens in his first round of 7-under 65 on Thursday. This is his lowest career score at TPC Sawgrass.

Rory McIlroy had a poor outing as he finished at 4-over 76 in the first round. He could only hit two birdies in comparison to 4 bogeys and a double bogey.

Disappointed with his performance, Rory said that he just needs to regroup and will try to shoot a good one to avoid missing a cut.