Rory McIlroy laments change of driver after poor start at Players Championship

• Switch from last year's driver contributes to opening 76
• It's quite a lot of user error in there as well'

It feels strangely appropriate that the trampoline effect is partly responsible for the troubles encountered by Rory McIlroy on day one at the Players Championship. After all, a bounce is precisely what McIlroy needs during round two in order to survive for the weekend.

McIlroy's 76, his worst competitive score since the first round of the 2021 Masters, was notable for a series of wayward drives. He found just six from a possible 14 fairways. It's very penal when you don't hit fairways and I just didn't hit a lot of fairways today," McIlroy said. That's the reason the score is what it is."