It was the best week of the year as the first major began in Augusta. Team TaylorMade had five athletes in the field: defending champ Scottie Scheffler, Rory McIlroy, Collin Morikawa, Tommy Fleetwood and Nick Dunlap.
Let’s take a look at the most important pieces of equipment in the bag for each athlete.
Rory McIlroy: TP5 + Milled Grind 4 60° Wedge
Perhaps the biggest equipment story of the year so far, Rory’s switch to the TP5 golf ball has proved pivotal in his two wins this season. This is the first time Rory has won twice before heading to Augusta and he is at his career-best in Scoring Average heading into this tournament.
The biggest change in Rory’s game with TP5 comes when hitting shots into the wind which he credits his golf ball in aiding his improvement in that category.
Concurrent with the ball change, Rory bent his 60° MG4 to 61°. According to TaylorMade VP of Tour Operations Keith Sbarbaro, the 61° wedge doesn’t catch in the grain and has low enough bounce to perform well on tight grass like in Augusta. Sbarbaro also said the 61° wedge also makes hitting the 40-70 yard shots much easier with lower launch and spin.
“The first time I worked on it a lot was at Pebble Beach, and we had to contend with somereally windyconditions there at the weekend and played well in that. When the conditions come like that, I just feel likeI'ma lot better prepared to handle them.It'sflighting the sort of wedges and short irons, which have been the issue, and I feel likeI'vebeen able to rectify that.”
Rory McIlroy
Concurrent with the ball change, Rory bent his 60° MG4 to 61°. According to TaylorMade VP of Tour Operations Keith Sbarbaro, the 61° wedge doesn’t catch in the grain and has low enough bounce to perform well on tight grass like in Augusta. Sbarbaro also said the 61° wedge also makes hitting the 40-70 yard shots much easier with lower launch and spin.
Rory's WITB
Collin Morikawa: Qi35 LS Driver
Collin’s best driving round in his T3 finish last year came in his Saturday 69 where he finished 8th in Strokes Gained: Off the Tee at +1.68. So, at a golf course where driving can be a big differentiator, where is Collin’s game off the tee heading into this year’s tournament?
The short answer: it’s in a great spot.
With his Qi35 LS driver, Collin currently leads the PGA TOUR in SG: Tee-to-Green for 2025 at +1.999, is fourth in driving accuracy and 12th in SG: Off the Tee. Heading into this tournament last year, he was 24th in Driving Accuracy and 48th in Strokes Gained: Off the Tee. If his driving trends so far this season with Qi35 LS continue this week, Collin could be on track to add his third major championship to the trophy case.
“What we found with Qi35 LS is there is no left in it, which is one of the first boxes we have to check in the fitting process. He usually sees some right to left movement every once in a while when we test drivers and this one immediately had nothing going left. There were no instances where he called us and said “hey this thing is going left and I’m worried about it.” It also has a tighter dispersion and a consistent spin window across the face.”
Ryan Ressa, Senior Tour Manager
Morikawa's WITB
Scottie Scheffler: Spider Tour X Putter
Scottie’s improvement on the greens since adding Spider Tour X L-Neck to the bag was a huge part of his nine-win season in 2024, which included his second career win in Augusta. Below is Scottie's Spider spec:
Scheffler's WITB
Tommy Fleetwood: TP5x
Tommy is coming off his career best finish at this event in 2024 finishing tied for third. The key to his success last year was an overall above average performance in the major Strokes Gained categories. With his TP5x golf ball, Tommy was just one of two players to gain 2+ strokes in the following categories: Off the Tee, Approach, Around the Green and Putting.
Tommy has played TP5x since 2020 and TP5x pix since 2021. In his own words, he said he trusts TP5x will help him hit the shots he wants to hit in all facets of his game.
“You hit different shotsatdifferent times…sometimes you want to float one up,sometimes you want to penetrate the wind and sometimes you want it to hold its line in a cross wind.The ability of TP5x to do all those things atdifferent times,the stability of it and how it holds its linemakes the TaylorMade ball the best ballI’vehit and seen perform in the wind.”
Tommy Fleetwood
Fleetwood's WITB
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