RORY WINS IN DUBAI (AGAIN!): QI10 DRIVER AND NEW TP5X CLUTCH IN FOURTH DUBAI DESERT CLASSIC TITLE
Rory McIlroy + Dubai = Trophies. It’s as simple as that.
McIlroy captured his fourth Dubai Desert Classic title on Sunday with his Qi10 9.0° driver headlining four new clubs and a new TP5x golf ball in the bag for 2024.
Rory averaged 329.6 yards off the tee, with TEN drives over 340 yards this week (including five over 350!). He also played the Par-5s in 10-under for the week. Ya…that’ll do Rors.
After entering the weekend 10-shots back of the lead, Rory’s vintage Saturday 63 propelled him into the final group on Sunday. He put his stamp on the final round early by delivering a 355-yard drive on the Par 4 second hole with his Qi10 driver that landed on the green and finished 30-feet from the pin before two putting for birdie.
Rory then holed a 32-foot putt for birdie on the 8th hole and a 16-foot birdie putt on the 9th with his new Spider Tour X putter to lead by three strokes at the turn. After battling difficult conditions on the back nine, Rory remained steady down the stretch making par at the last to seal the one-shot victory.
“It’s big. Getting a win early in the year is always important. I think it really can sort of act as a nice springboard into the rest of the year. I knew my game was in good shape, and I think getting the win just sort of validates that you’re on the right path and you’re doing the right things. Hopefully I’ll take the learnings from this week into the next few weeks and building up to the major season.”
RORY MCILROY
INSIDE THE WINNING BAG
- Qi10 9.0° driver (Ventus Black 6-X)
Qi10 15.0° 3-wood (Ventus Black 8-X)
Qi10 19.0° 5-wood (Ventus Black 9-X)
P·760 4-iron, Rors Proto 5-9 (Project X 7.0)
Milled Grind 4 46.09° SB, 50.09° SB, 54.11° SB (Project X 6.5)
Milled Grind 4 60.08° LB (Project X Wedge 6.5)
Spider Tour X
2024 TP5x
A WINNING COMBO: QI10 DRIVER AND NEW TP5X GOLF BALL
Rory moved into the Qi10 head as he prefers the look and feel of the slightly larger head when compared to the LS model. With his set up at one click lower on the loft sleeve and adding an inch of length back to his shaft, the Qi10 head launches higher with a lower peak height. Rory saw tighter spin rates overall and more consistent results on mishits with the forgiving Qi10 head.
Coupling that with his new 2024 TP5x, the TaylorMade Tour team and Rory quickly found a winning formula.
In testing the 2024 TP5x, Rory gained considerable distance with his irons and ball speed with his driver. Overall, the ball produced that flatter and lower peak trajectory with driver and a softer feel with more spin around the greens with his Milled Grind 4 wedges.
Rory also added a Qi10 3-wood and 5-wood to the bag at the start of the year. Similar to driver, Rory saw optimal spin numbers with the steel fairway woods that are larger and more forgiving heads compared to titanium fairway woods he had played in the past. Forgiveness, even the best players in the world are looking for it!
THE SPIDER TOUR X ORIGIN STORY
The origin story of Rory’s new Spider Tour putter begins at the 2023 BMW Championship at Olympia Fields. This was a week where the TaylorMade Tour team began to test the new Spider Tour putter line to players in the second leg of the FedEx Cup Playoffs.
Rory had his first look at the putters on the driving range the morning before the pro-am. The TaylorMade tour team presented him with three identical putters, but knowing that the way the putter sits to his eye is the most important characteristic to Rory, each putter had a slightly different face angle at address.
He looked at each putter and gravitated toward the putter that suited his eye best. This Spider Tour X has a slightly shallower face combined with the face angle spec from his previous Spider X gamer. That spec that our Tour team drew up was exactly what Rory was looking for and the proof is in the pudding as it produced a victory in his second start with the putter in his bag.
DOMINATION IN DUBAI
Rory’s success in Dubai is otherworldly. Take a look at these stats.
- 25 starts
- Six wins
- 11 Top 3 finishes
- 22 Top 10 finishes
- 68.4 average score
- 88 rounds under par
Here’s what the champ had to say about why he’s so comfortable in Dubai.
“The arc of my career and Dubai have sort of tracked each other pretty consistently along the way. Just to think like 18 years ago, and what it meant to come here and play in this event, to be sitting here having won it four times, and all the great experiences that I’ve had in Dubai…it’s always been a place where I come back to and reminisce about my career because I really feel like it’s where everything started.”
RORY MCILROY
