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Rory McIlroy made a big equipment change one week before the AT&T Pebble Beach Pro-Am and proved to be a rewarding one.
The 35-year-old battled through challenging conditions and a packed leaderboard to capture his 27th career PGA Tour victory over the weekend.
He held off his good friend Shane Lowry by two shots to take home the victory winning with a final round of 66 finishing 21-under for the tournament.

It was vintage Rory McIlroy, but the change he made the week prior to the AT&T Pebble Beach Pro-Am played a big part in his performance.
There is a backstory to McIlroy’s equipment change and it starts with a practice day at the iconic Michael Jordan’s golf course one week before he made his 2025 debut on the PGA Tour. As he was working on the short game area, he hit a few shots around the green and was intrigued by the feel of the TaylorMade TP5.
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“I sort of stumbled upon the TP5,” said McIlroy “I just started to hit some chip shots with the TP5 instead of the TP5x and I really loved how it felt. I hadn’t really tested the 2024 TP5 and I loved how it was reacting around the greens. Then I started hitting some 60, 70-yard shots with it and it was coming off much lower launch but spinnier,” said McIlroy.
In testing with full iron shots, launch angle with the TP5 was about a degree lower while spin rates matched his TP5x. With the benefits around the greens of the softer TP5, McIlroy retained the ball speed with his driver that he possessed with TP5x.

When Rory arrived at Pebble, he put the TP5 through its paces during his Tuesday practice. After a late afternoon 18-hole spin around the Monterey Peninsula, it was the TaylorMade TP5 that was in the bag.
“I thought, you know, I’ve got four rounds this week, no cut, you know I may as well give it a go,” he said.
Perhaps as a precursor of what was to come, during his practice round on Tuesday McIlroy holed out from a greenside bunker on the fifth hole. Then, less than 48 hours later on his sixth hole of his first round with TP5, McIlroy dunked his tee shot on the par-three 15th at Spyglass Hill for a hole-in-one.
Could this equipment change be a teaser of a successful season to come for Rory McIlroy?
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