How grabbing a club out of his garage helped Rory McIlroy win the Genesis Scottish Open

A garage full of clubs is something most golfers can relate to, Rory McIlroy included.

McIlroy doesn’t usually carry a 2-iron in his bag, but he thought it may come in handy before heading overseas for a fortnight of facing links courses. That’s why he went into his garage to grab his TaylorMade P-760 2-iron to replace the Stealth 2 Plus 5-wood that is in his bag most weeks.

The change set the stage for what McIlroy called one of the best shots of his career. Needing a birdie on the 72nd hole to win the Genesis Scottish Open at The Renaissance Club, McIlroy stung a 2-iron shot from 201 yards into a stiff breeze. His ball rolled to 11 feet, and he made the putt to break the heart of Scotland’s Robert MacIntyre, who finished one shot back.

“That’s probably going to be up there with one of the best shots I’ll hit in my career,” McIlroy said about the shot after the round.

McIlroy not only traded his 5-wood for a 2-iron last week, but he also took out his 3-iron to make room for a fourth wedge.

McIlroy said that he “was between 4-iron and 2-iron (on the 72nd hole). I took 3 out at the start of the week. (The) 3-iron was only getting to the front. (The) 2-iron, had to cut it and try to get it up into the wind. It came off absolutely perfectly.”

McIlroy now moves to Royal Liverpool Golf Club, site of his only Open Championship win nine years earlier. He was a Nike staffer back then and, like last week, he benched his 5-wood for a 2-iron.

In 2014, it was a Nike VR_S Covert 5-wood being replaced by his Nike MM Proto 2-iron, which was unreleased to the public at the time.

“I had seen and tested versions of the MM Proto 2-iron for the past few months and worked with Nike to perfect this club for me,” McIlroy told GolfWRX.com in 2014. “They brought me this 2-iron to try out at the Nike Performance Fitting Centre at Archerfield on Monday, and I loved it. It was an instant hit and I immediately put it in the bag. I find the MMPROTO easy to shape and I can also flight it higher, which is huge for a 2-iron.”

One major difference between McIlroy’s 2014 Nike 2-iron and his new 2023 TaylorMade 2-iron is the shaft. Back in 2014, McIlroy equipped his Nike MM Proto 2-iron with a Project X 7.0 steel shaft, which matched up with the rest of his iron set. This time around, McIlroy is equipping his TaylorMade P-760 2-iron with a Project X HZRDUS 6.5-flex graphite shaft.

For a further trip down memory lane, listed below are McIlroy’s winning clubs from the 2014 Open Championship at Royal Liverpool:

Driver: Nike VR_S Covert 2.0 (8.5 degrees)

Shaft: Mitsubishi Rayon Kuro Kage XTS 70X

3-wood: Nike VR_S Covert (15 degrees)

Shaft: Fujikura Rombax Pro 95X

Irons: Nike MM Proto (2-iron), Nike VR Pro Blade (3-9)

Shaft: Project X 7.0

Wedges: Nike VR Forged (47, 54, 59 degrees)

Shafts: Project X 6.5

Putter: Nike Method 006