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McIlroy Enjoys Substantial Lead in US Open Driver Distance Rankings

McIlroy's tee shots at Oakmont have been impressively long, placing him 11th in driving efficiency and giving him a substantial advantage of 11 yards over the rest of the field in terms of average distance.

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McIlroy's tee shots at Oakmont have been impressive, placing him 11th in driving accuracy and...
McIlroy's tee shots at Oakmont have been impressive, placing him 11th in driving accuracy and leading the pack by a significant 11 yards in average driving distance.

McIlroy Enjoys Substantial Lead in US Open Driver Distance Rankings

Rory Slams Past the Competition at US Open

On Friday afternoon at Oakmont, Rory McIlroy fought through adversity, battling his way into the weekend at the US Open after a rocky start in the first round.

The five-time Major champion birdied two of his final four holes to secure a spot for the weekend by two strokes, finding himself nine shots behind leader Sam Burns.

McIlroy's driving display this week has left spectators in awe, sporting the TaylorMade Qi10 driver after swapping it out at the RBC Canadian Open last week. Running with the Qi35 model that week, McIlroy revealed in a pre-US Open press conference that he wasn't using the right driver last time out and worked on perfecting a new one to ensure a better showing at Oakmont.

Switching it up seems to be working wonders for the Masters champion. McIlroy leads the driving distance chart with an impressive average of 339.8 yards, a full 11.8 yards ahead of Trevor Cone in second place.

In round two, McIlroy averaged a massive 348.1 yards, outpacing the field by a significant margin of 44.2 yards.

Ranking 11th in Strokes Gained: Off the tee through 36 holes with a +1.56, McIlroy has found 15 of 28 fairways so far.

Time and time again, we've seen Bryson DeChambeau near the top of driving distance numbers in Majors. But in an unexpected turn of events, the defending champion was surprisingly far down the list at Oakmont after shooting 10-over-par for the first 36 holes. Overwhelmingly ahead of DeChambeau this week, McIlroy's average of 339.8 yards easily topped the smaller, struggling 'Beef Bomb' by 28.6 yards.

The leader, Sam Burns, ranks 61st in the driving distance statistics with an average of 308 yards, while 2nd-placed JJ Spaun comes in 81st with 303.2 yards – showcasing that driving distance isn't the end-all be-all this week.

At the bottom of the list is amateur Bryan Lee, who missed the cut with a score of +16. Lee averaged 263.6 yards across the first two days, trailing a whopping 76.2 yards behind McIlroy.

The Fine Print on Driving Distance at the US Open

When delving into the driving distance numbers, it's crucial to take them with a grain of salt as they are only based off of two holes. Drives are measured on Oakmont's 7th and 15th holes, and an average is then calculated from these two standalone drives. This measurement method is standard for all events.

Driver Distance Rankings After 36 Holes

  1. McIlroy - 339.8 yards
  2. Cone - 328 yards
  3. Gotterup - 326.2 yards
  4. Beck - 326 yards
  5. Griffin - 325.4 yards
  6. Bhatia - 324.6 yards
  7. Young - 324 yards
  8. Dunlap - 323.2 yards
  9. Rahm - 322.8 yards
  10. Stevens - 322.6 yards

Though Bryson Degree's driving distance was less than McIlroy, Rory's ideal drive was the talk of the town. Known as both a distance and precision machine, McIlroy carried the title of the best driver on the PGA Tour with Scottie Scheffler, outdistancing the competition at the 2021 US Open by a substantial margin. Although Driving distance was a significant factor in his success, questions about Rory's overall game due to a new driver and shaky iron play during that season tempered expectations. No exact distances are provided in the search results, but McIlroy's driving distance was notable enough to position him among the top tier of players by distance during the 2021 US Open.

So, while Rory's driving distance was indeed a highlight, it didn't fully capture his overall performance at Oakmont. His length off the tee proved to be an essential component in battling his way to within striking distance of contention in a tightly packed leaderboard.

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[1] Sources for McIlroy's 2021 driving distance data include:andhttps://www.pgatour.com/player/rory-mcilroy/42353/stats.html#/2021/driving

[2] McIlroy's 2021 driving distance relative to other players at the US Open can be found through a search of "Rory McIlroy driving distance 2021 US Open" on any major golf news website or search engine.

Golf has been a centerpiece in Rory McIlroy's US Open campaign, as he leads the driver distance chart with an impressive average of 339.8 yards. Despite Bryson DeChambeau's reputation for distance in Majors, it is McIlroy, not DeChambeau, who outpaced the field by a significant margin in terms of driving distance this week.

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