The key to Rory McIlroy finally winning the Masters? His new ball

Telegraph

09-04-2025

Fate and Michael Jordan can obviously be considered a formidable duo and Rory McIlroy is hoping that the pair's influence has helped him unlock the secret to finally winning here. The key could be wrapped up in a diameter of at least 1.680in and a weight of no more than 1.62oz.
A change in ball might very well be the answer for the world No 2 as he tries, for the 11th time, to become the sixth player to complete the career grand slam. Of course, professional golfers switch up their equipment and tinker with their bag all the time, but there was something about the manner in which McIlroy stumbled upon this replacement that could prove crucial – if not career-defining.
McIlroy explained the chance encounter and the transfer to a ball that is hardly used on the PGA Tour, with Rickie Fowler one of the few others to employ the standard version. 'I was messing around at the Grove XXIII [the course owned by Jordan] at the end of January and there were some TP5 balls on the practice grounds and I just started to hit some chips,' he said.
'I'd been using the TP5X model, but I really loved how this new one felt. I loved how it was reacting around the greens and then I started hitting some 60 and 70-yard shots with it and it was coming off a much lower launch, but spinnier.'
It was a eureka moment, particularly when McIlroy discovered that despite the softer ball, he did not lose any distance off the tee. McIlroy put it in play the following week at the AT&T Pro-Am at Pebble Beach and proceeded to win. He looked vastly improved in his approach shots from 150 yards and in – previously his glaring weakness – and the experts immediately took notice.
And after another win at the Players Championship, the intriguing theory that the new ball could be the answer has gained traction. In that play-off against JJ Spaun, he hit a tee-shot on the infamous 17th that encapsulated the apparent upgrade in his renowned skill set.
With the wind howling, McIlroy chose to take a 'knocked-down' nine-iron, taking off 30 or 40 yards with a protracted backswing. It was hardly a stunning return, as his ball came to rest 30 feet from the pin, but it was to be the title-winning moment. He played a similar shot to the 18th and said to Harry [Diamond, his caddie] 'that little shot will take us a long way'. All the way down the Magnolia Lane, to a Green Jacket? The scenario is certainly plausible.
'I will say Rory switching to a softer ball really does give us a greater hope for his success at the Masters this year,' said Brandel Chamblee, the former PGA Tour winner turned Golf Channel analyst. 'Because it's forcing him to get on top of it, it's forcing him to cover it. Paul McGinley [Chamblee's colleague] has been talking about this a lot, he talked about it at the Players. Off camera, after our interview with Rory, Rory talked about it with the three of us.
'I talked to Curt Byrum [another former Tour winner], who followed his group at the Houston Open two weeks ago, and he told me 'he's on top of it, flighting down these wedge shots'. That is the shot he needs at Augusta National. You've got to be able to sort of hold it off, trap it down, hit some cuts off hook lies and not hit that long left shot that has plagued him. So there's reason for the golf world to be excited about the possibility, and again, from a competitive standpoint, he's never gone into the Masters playing better or sharper.'
'He is that talented he can do anything with a golf ball'
Pete Cowen sees Chamblee's point, but does not fully agree. The Yorkshire coach was brought in by McIlroy four years ago to fix his play with the lofted irons and was confused when he started.
'The thing with Rory is that he is that talented he can do anything with a golf ball,' Cowen told Telegraph Sport. 'I remember when I first met him when he was 13. I was in a consultancy role for the Irish amateur teams and they told me to look at this prodigy. He had everything, but he could not play the high, soft bunker shot that goes one bounce and then checks – bang, stop!
'He tried and tried in front of me, but just couldn't do it. He was furious with himself and said 'the next time I see you, I'll be able to do it'. I thought 'oh yeah, I'm coming back in a fortnight and there's no chance'. So I go back there and Rory is shouting 'Pete, Pete… come and see this'. He'd perfected it. He was about 5ft 2in and could do it perfectly. Incredible. He can do anything.'
So why did so many of his approach shots fail so spectacularly? 'It was his distance control with his wedges and eight-irons that were the problem,' Cowen said. 'It was baffling because he could do it on the range. Any shot I asked of him, he could pull off and to any yardage. The knocked-down shots were easy for him. But then he'd go on the course and not even try to play that type of shot, even though it was clearly what was needed. I asked Harry about it and he said, 'I just don't think he's comfortable doing it'.
'The visual he loves seeing comes from his driver and it's in that window, way up high. He wanted to see his wedge shots in that same trajectory, in that same window, but it's too high for that supposed controlled shot – it should be 90 feet instead of 125 feet. It was a mental thing and maybe this change of ball was all he needed.
'I doubt it's made that much difference, but if he thinks it has, that's all that matters. It could be the missing piece in the jigsaw, although there is plainly scar tissue he has at the Masters. But he probably feels better armed than ever this time around, because he thinks he has distance control with his approach play and that confidence could be major.'
Cowen uttered that last word with a wink. The veteran guru has not gone soft. This could be a whole new ball park for his former pupil.