McIlroy happy with new club

Rory McIlroy hopes he has found the club to take him to Open Championship glory in three weeks.

“I think it’s going to make a big difference,” the world number two said of his new driver.

“It puts less spin on the ball, which is just great in the wind, and it goes 15 yards further.”

McIlroy tested the club on Monday and put it straight into the bag for this week’s Irish Open at Royal Portrush.

After a third-round 71 the 23-year-old is six behind new leader Jamie Donaldson, but that has nothing to do with his driving.

“I’ve struggled on the greens all week,” said McIlroy.

This is his last event before The Open at Royal Lytham, a course he knows well from his amateur days. He was runner-up to Scot Lloyd Saltman in the 2007 Lytham Trophy.

McIlroy had girlfriend Caroline Wozniacki watching him again. She lost in the first round at Wimbledon earlier in the week and flew straight over to Northern Ireland.

Their Friday evening was spent watching “The Five-Year Engagement” at a Belfast cinema.

“I wouldn’t have gone to see it on my own, but it was a nice evening,” he said, having admitted beforehand that the choice of film was “not up to me”.

The two sporting stars have been dating for the past year.