Rory McIlroy Makes History Claiming His Seventh Race to Dubai Title
Rory McIlroy carved his name further into the history books on Sunday by claiming his seventh career Harry Vardon trophy. The win gives him the most Race to Dubai wins ever, and marks his fourth consecutive. Winning the season-long points race caps off a 2025 campaign that saw McIlroy complete the career Grand Slam at Augusta, capture three PGA TOUR wins including THE PLAYERS Championship, the DP World Tour's Amgen Irish Open, and lead team Europe to a Ryder Cup victory on American soil.
McIlroy made several notable equipment changes in 2025 that led to one of his most successful years as a professional. Let's dive in for a closer look.
THE SWITCH TO TP5
Prior to his first win of 2025 at the AT&T Pebble Beach Pro-Am, McIlroy spent a day practicing at Michael Jordan's course and began hitting a few short game shots with the TP5 golf ball.
"I sort of stumbled upon (TP5). I just started to hit some chip shots with the TP5 instead of the TP5x and I really loved how it felt. I hadn't really tested the 2024 TP5 and I loved how it was reacting around the greens. Then I started hitting some 60, 70-yard shots with it and it was coming off much lower but spinnier."Rory McIlroy
McIlroy then moved on to testing full iron shots where he found his launch angle to be about a degree lower with the spin rates matching those of his TP5x. With the benefits around the greens of the softer TP5, McIlroy retained the ball speed with his driver that he possessed with TP5x.
He continued putting TP5 through the paces in practice rounds at Pebble Beach and ultimately put it into play for the tournament, which he went on to win. His first victory on the Monterey Peninsula with TP5 set the tone for the rest of the year.
YEAR OF THE SPIDER 2.0
Rory won four times in 2024 with his Spider Tour X putter, and his continued success on the greens in 2025 was paramount to a historic year. His stats on the 2025 PGA TOUR bare that out:
- 7th in SG: Putting (0.597)
- 10th in Putting Avg. (1.716)
- 9th in One-Putt % (43.40%)
- 10th in Birdie or Better Conversion % (35.65%)
- 10th in Putting from > 25' (8.22%)
- 1st in Putting from 15'-20' (28.13%)
- 12th in Avg. Distance of Putts Made (78'3")
- HOSEL: Short Slant
- SIGHT LINE: Full Line
- INSERT: Pure Roll
- SHAFT: Black Stepless
- LENGTH: 34 1/2" EOG
- LOFT: 3°
- LIE: 69.5°
- SWINGWEIGHT: E0
- GRIP: SuperStroke Pistol Tour
- WRAPS: 1
THE SWITCH TO MG5 WEDGES
Rory put MG5 wedges in the bag and won straight away in dramatic fashion on his home soil at the DP World Tour's Amgen Irish Open. Simply put, MG5 wedges checked three main boxes Rory considers in a wedge: the visual of how it sets up, turf interaction specifically with his lob wedge, and feel.
The forged construction of MG5 wedges provided Rory the soft feel he was looking for. Spin Tread Technology and the all-new saw-milled grooves also enhanced performance in wet conditions creating more friction and therefore higher, more consistent spin, as well as lower launch.
In the 60° lob wedge specifically, Rory found that bending the loft 1° weaker improved his turf interaction and made shots from the 40 to 70 yards range easier.
"That distance is the hardest shot to hit with a wedge, even for a Tour pro. Tour players are really comfortable on half shots, three-quarter shots and full shots. A half shot with a 60° wedge probably goes around 75 yards, so the 60-yard or less shot is a lot harder. By bending Rory's lob wedge to 61°, the shorter shots from 40 to 70 yards are much easier for him. He can utilize more speed, which means more control to those awkward numbers."Keith Sbarbaro, VP of Tour Operations
- HEAD: MG5 60° LB
- FINISHED LOFT: 61°
- LIE: 63.5°
- LENGTH: 35 1/8" CUT
- SWINGWEIGHT: D5
- SHAFT: Project X 6.5 Wedge
Photo Courtesy of SMS On Tour
- HEAD: MG5 54° SB
- FINISHED LOFT: 54°
- LIE: 63°
- LENGTH: 35 1/2" CUT
- SWINGWEIGHT: D4.5
- SHAFT: Project X 6.5
Photo Courtesy of SMS on Tour
- HEAD: MG5 50° SB
- FINISHED LOFT: 50°
- LIE: 62.5°
- LENGTH: 35 3/4" CUT
- SWINGWEIGHT: D4.5
- SHAFT: Project X 6.5
Photo Courtesy of SMS On Tour
- HEAD: MG5 46° SB
- FINISHESD LOFT: 46°
- LIE: 62°
- LENGTH: 36" CUT
- SWINGWEIGHT: D4
- SHAFT: Project X 6.5
Photo Courtesy of SMS On Tour
McIlroy plays Golf Pride's Mutli-Compound grip with one layer of double-sided taped and one layer of single-sided tape.
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