Six years ago, on the final hole of the Players Championship, Rory McIlroy removed the dog headcover off his driver to cheers from the crowd. Like a gladiator unsheathing his favorite weapon, he launched his drive 300 yards down the left side of the fairway, made par and lifted the golden trophy for the first time.
For much of his career, the driver has been his weapon. His go-to club, his strength, his superpower. However, this year at the Players, McIlroy won in a different manner, less reliant on that superpower. Instead, he showcased a new array of tools, highlighted by a “three-quarter, three-quarter” shot on the 17th hole at TPC Sawgrass in the playoff that all but clinched the trophy once again.
“I’m a more complete player,” McIlroy told the media after his win. It’s a phrase we heard earlier in the week and in the moments after his win last month at Pebble Beach.
But what does a more complete player actually mean? How has he improved his all-round game? And how is that translating into performances like Sawgrass?
Let’s take a look.
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Anytime a young player comes on tour and impresses, whispers make their way around locker rooms and driving ranges, explaining what it is about the newcomer that is eye-catching. For Rory, it was his driving.
Immediately when he turned pro, he was an elite driver of the golf ball. In 2010, his first full season on the PGA Tour, McIlroy ranked 6th in Strokes Gained/Off-The-Tee.
Remarkably, that remains the lowest ranking he’s held in that category in 16 seasons on tour.
Despite his early and continued success, there was an argument to be made that McIlroy was too reliant on this aspect of his game.
In that rookie season of 2010, he gained 0.70 strokes off the tee while gaining just 0.71 strokes overall. In other words, 98 percent of his edge over his competitors came from his tee shots.
Impressive, but not complete.
Fast forward to 2014 and the season that Rory won two majors, sandwiched either side of a WGC title at Firestone, and McIlroy was gaining 1.4 strokes per round off the tee, nearly double the difference from his rookie year. However, despite that improvement, his overall game also had improved. He gained 2.3 shots per round overall.
That meant that just 60.3 percent of McIlroy’s advantage was reliant on his driving. He was now top 15 on tour in Strokes Gained/Approach and 41st (out of 177) in putting.
Applying the same analysis to his Players-winning season of 2019 again shows the trend in his game. That year, McIlroy gained 2.55 shots per round, the best Strokes Gained/Total season of his career. Only Tiger Woods has gained more strokes per round in a season (three times).
Of that 2.55 strokes that McIlroy had over the tour average, only 1.2 shots, or 46.8 percent, came off the tee. In the media center after his win at Sawgrass that year, he admitted to viewing his game in a similar way.
“I looked at my stats at the end of every week. I’m leading strokes gained/tee to green, I’m putting well, my around the greens is good. Everything was in a really good place, and that’s why I was just preaching patience, and it was just a matter of time.”
And it did pay off for him. He won three times that 2019 season, had 14 top-10s in 17 starts, won the FedEx Cup, the Vardon Trophy (lowest scoring average) and was named Player of the Year (the last time he won PGA Tour Player of the Year in fact).
The most complete season of his career was complete with success, albeit outside of the majors.
Thus, entering this season, on the back of heartbreak at the 2024 U.S. Open and frustration at Augusta and Royal Troon, McIlroy set about an off-season of swing changes and a desire to again become a “complete player.”
He has continued to work with Brad Faxon on his putting, a new swing move with his irons and an emphasis on hitting more knock-down shots.
And the results are clear.
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Following his impressive victory at Pebble Beach in February, McIlroy clinched the Players in a playoff with a perfect example of the knock-down shot he’s been working on. He was less reliant on his driver and excelled in other areas of his game to get over the line at TPC Sawgrass.
McIlroy shot 12 under par for four rounds, bettering the field by 14.6 shots. Of those gains, only 18 percent came via his driving. He gained 34 percent of his shots with his putter and 53 percent of his shots with his approach play. One could say, a “complete” performance.
For the season, the Northern Irishman is once again leading the tour in Strokes Gained/Total at a historical high level. He is gaining 2.3 strokes per round, the best level since his prior Players victory in 2019.
Of that 2.3 strokes per round, only 40 percent or 0.9 shots are coming by way of his tee shots.
To use the analogy of a baseball pitcher, he’s finding ways to get outs without relying purely on his fast ball. He’s found other ways to produce success. He has more tools available to him now that perhaps he’s ever had in his career. He is a more complete player.
Don’t take it from me, here’s Paul McGinley.
“There’s an evolution going on with his game. It’s great to see, even as he gets into his mid-30s now that he’s becoming a more complete player,” said the former European Ryder Cup captain during a segment of Golf Channel’s “Live From The Players” coverage on Monday. “There’s no way he would have won this tournament seven, eight years ago where he very much thrived on confidence overpowering a course. Now he can play on the backfoot. I know we have a bit of fun with that but it’s something the great players can do, win on their backfoot without their A game. And that’s what Rory is now starting to prove.”
Will that complete game help him “complete” the career grand slam in three weeks time, only time will tell But for now, his mission to becoming more complete looks right on course.
