Rory McIlroy says trying to emulate Bryson DeChambeau’s power has been “detrimental” to his game.
Four-time major winner McIlroy failed to defend his Players’ Championship title as he missed the cup on Friday after finishing at 10 over par.
The Northern Irishman, 31, says he tried to add speed to his swing to hit the ball from longer distances.
“I would be lying if I said it was nothing to do with what Bryson did at the US Open,” said McIlroy.
“I think a lot of people saw that and thought, ‘If that’s the way they’re going to build golf courses in the future, that helps.’ It really helps.
“I thought being able to gain more speed is a good thing, and maybe at the expense of my swing, I got there, but I just need to maybe master it a bit.”
World number six DeChambeau, renowned for his hard-hitting approach, won his first major at the US Open in September.
The American’s average driving distance is 323.5 yards and he propelled his way to victory at Last week’s Arnold Palmer Invitational – where McIlroy’s eighty-six on Sunday left him eight shots behind the winner – and is in contention for the Sawgrass players.
McIlroy hasn’t won a tournament since November 2019 – nor a major since 2014 – and has fallen to 11th place in the world rankings.
After shooting his worst 36 hole score since 2013, he explained that he started working on his swing last October.
“I started to get sucked into this stuff, and my swing got flat, long, and too spinning,” he added.
“I added speed and hit the ball longer, but what that did to my swing as a whole probably wasn’t a good thing, so I’m kind of struggling to get through it. “
