Rory McIlroy makes his first start since The Open this week in Memphis as the FedEx Cup Playoffs get underway, and he looks to be toying with a new flat stick.

The four-time Major champion finished T6th at Royal Liverpool last month, making it nine full years without a Major championship, and it seems that he may well be making a gear switch this week at TPC Southwind.

McIlroy has had a successful year with two victories coming at the Dubai Desert Classic and Scottish Open, but his form on the greens may have cost him the chance of more glory.

He ranks 3rd in strokes gained: total on the PGA Tour, 2nd off the tee and 4th in approach, but his putting has been lagging well behind, leaving him in 86th on the PGA Tour in the strokes gained statistics. 

The 34-year-old has switched between putters over the past few years, sticking with his TaylorMade Spider X the majority of the time barring a couple of moves to two different Scotty Cameron Newport blades. However, this week he has been spotted using a mallet style Scotty in the form of a Phantom X model.

An image posted on 'X', formerly known as Twitter, from Golf Digest's Luke Kerr Dineen shows McIlroy putting with a model that appears to be the Phantom X 5.5, which is the same one used by his close friend Justin Thomas.

New flat stick for Rory this week 👀 August 8, 2023

See more

McIlroy also added Titleist Vokey wedges earlier in the year after toying around with Thomas' clubs back at home in Florida, so this might be a similar scenario. We'll wait to see and hear more.

"Yeah, so that was really it. I was messing around with Justin, I see Justin Thomas all the time at home and messing around with some of his wedges and some of the grinds he has. I got in touch and ordered a couple, and they've worked really nicely," McIlroy said at the WM Phoenix Open in February after adding in the Vokey wedges.

"Yeah, so this is my first year of my new deal with TaylorMade, and they gave me just a little bit of flexibility with some of the clubs that I can play."

McIlroy currently ranks 3rd in the FedEx Cup standings ahead of the final three events of the 2022/23 PGA Tour season. He is the defending FedEx Cup champion after winning it for the third time last year.