Rory McIlroy says trying to emulate Bryson DeChambeau’s power hitting has been “detrimental” to his game.
Four-time major winner McIlroy failed to defend his Players Championship title as he missed the cut on Friday after finishing at 10 over par.
The Northern Irishman, 31, says he has tried to add speed to his swing in order to hit the ball further.
“I’d be lying if I said it wasn’t anything to do with what Bryson did at the US Open,” said McIlroy.
“I think a lot of people saw that and were like, ‘if this is the way they’re going to set golf courses up in the future, it helps’. It really helps.
“I thought being able to get some more speed is a good thing, and maybe to the detriment of my swing, I got there, but I just need to maybe rein it back in a little bit.”
World number six DeChambeau, renowned for his big-hitting approach, won his first major at the US Open in September.
The American’s average driving distance is 323.5 yards and he powered his way to victory at last week’s Arnold Palmer Invitational – where McIlroy’s four-over 76 on Sunday left him eight shots behind the winner – and is in contention for the Players at Sawgrass.
McIlroy has not won a tournament since November 2019 – or a major since 2014 – and has dropped to 11th in the world rankings.
After shooting his worst 36-hole score since 2013, the Ryder Cup player – who was already one of the world’s longest hitters – said he started working on adding extra speed to his swing last October.
“I started getting sucked into that stuff, and my swing got flat, long, and too rotational,” he added.
“I added some speed and I am hitting the ball longer, but what that did to my swing as a whole probably wasn’t a good thing, so I’m sort of fighting to get back out of that.”
