On Wednesday, ahead of the DP World Tour’s India Championship, Rory McIlroy made a surprising admission. 

“I’d say the next time I hit my driver will be in Abu Dhabi,” the five-time major champion said, referring to the Abu Dhabi HSBC Championship in early November, his next start. 

True to his word, McIlroy did a career first in India: he literally took the driver out of his bag. 

“I just don’t feel like the risk is worth the reward,” McIlroy said. “I’d rather leave myself two or three clubs back and hit a 7-iron into a par-4 instead of hitting a wedge, where if you just get it off-line here, the ball is gone. You’re hitting it into the jungle and you’re not going to be able to get it out. You can rack up a very big number very quickly.”

Of course, the driver is the biggest asset to McIlroy’s game. And without it, he finished T26 at 11 under par. 

McIlroy wasn’t alone, though, with 42% of the field opting not to use the big stick this week, including champion Tommy Fleetwood. 

In an age of bombing the ball, why?

Delhi Golf Club measures 6,912 yards, making it the DPWT’s fifth shortest course. If this were the PGA Tour, it’d be the third shortest course of the season. 

But its tightness is what sparked players to ditch the driver, with fairways averaging a width of 25 yards.

“This is a more difficult challenge that we don’t see that often on the PGA Tour and we don’t play too many courses where you’re not hitting very many drivers,” said Ben Griffin, who finished T32. 

McIlroy, for example, was the second-longest hitter on the PGA Tour in 2025, averaging 323 yards off the tee, with the Tour average 303 yards. In India, the Northern Irishman ranked 27th in driving distance at 278 yards. 

India’s Karan Pratap Singh, ranked No. 2,168 in the world, led the field at 310 yards off the tee, yet missed the cut at 3 over par. Brian Harman was fifth at 295. Last season on the PGA Tour, Harman was 149th in average driving distance (294 yards). 

Taking Out the Driver Didn’t Mean Hitting Every Fairway

But just because players didn’t use driver doesn’t mean they found every fairway. McIlroy, who gained 1.1 strokes off the tee this week (ninth in the field), hit 71% of fairways and was 25th in the field in driving accuracy. Still, that’s an increase of the 51% he hit on the PGA Tour in 2025, ranked 165th out of 171 players. 

Fleetwood, meanwhile, found 77% of his fairways this week, tied for 14th in the field. 

However, McIlroy doesn’t feel he missed out on a victory because he wasn’t using his most powerful weapon. 

“If I'm struggling to hit fairways with my 2-iron, I’m not going to hit it with my driver,” the 36-year-old said after Round 2, when he was six back of the lead. “Same strategy. Just have to hit it a little closer with my second shots and not miss as many putts.”

With driving distances ballooning in recent years, golf’s governing bodies have taken steps to combat long hitters by rolling back the golf ball as many courses have lengthened. But the India Championship proved that a tight course will deter bombing the golf ball and put a premium on rewarding straight shots off the tee—just as the game intended in a bygone era. 


This article was originally published on www.si.com as In India, Rory McIlroy One of Many to Follow Unprecedented Strategy in Today’s Game.