The Open Championship is always a fun week for players and fans because it’s different than any other major championship. Links golf allows for more shot-making creativity and requires more of a ground game than what we usually see from the three other majors. To adjust, players often put equipment in the bag they wouldn’t typically use throughout their usual tour schedule.

There was plenty of fine play at The Open, namely from now three-time major champion Rory McIlroy, but there were also some equipment stories that stole show as well. Below, I’ve highlighted our favorite equipment changes, adjustments and mishaps from The 2014 Open Championship: Driving irons, Justin Rose’s missing driver, Stenson’s anger issues, cellphones, long drives, equipment changes and of course, drinking from the Claret Jug.

Nike MM Prototype Driving Iron

The driving iron craze is never stronger than the week of The Open Championship. Driving irons can be powerful weapons that are longer and easier to hit off the tee than the long irons they replace. A number of players also switched out their fairway woods and hybrids for driving irons that launch the ball lower and with less spin, helping them scoot the ball farther down Royal Liverpool’s fairways.

Rory McIlroy was one of those golfers, opting for a yet-to-be-announced Nike MM Prototype 2 iron this week instead of his usual VRS Covert 19-degree 5 wood.

GolfWRX: Why did you switch to the MM Prototype 2 iron this week? How is it different than your old 2 iron?

Rory McIlroy: I had seen and tested versions of the MM PROTO 2-iron for the past few months and worked with Nike to perfect this club for me. They brought me this 2-iron to try out at the Nike Performance Fitting Centre at Archerfield on Monday July 7th and I loved it. It was an instant hit and I immediately put it in the bag. I find the MMPROTO easy to shape and I can also flight it higher, which is huge for a 2-iron.

Here are more equipment updates from Nike’s Athletes at The Open

• See all the clubs Rory used for his Open Championship win.
  
• Tiger Woods replaced his Nike VRS Covert 5-wood with a VRS Forged 2-iron that had Project X’s ultralight PXi 6.5 shaft. He finished in 69th place.
• Other Nike staffers who put the MM Proto in the bag included David Duval, Ross Fisher, Russell Henley, Francesco Molinari, Charl Schwartzel and Nick Watney.

Callaway’s Apex UT Driving Iron

Callaway’s Apex UT Driving Iron is rumored to be even longer and straighter than the company’s previous driving iron, the X Utility Prototype, making it an even more useful replacement to long irons.

Based on all the Callaway staffers who put it in the bag this week at The Open — Gary Woodland, Thomas Bjorn, Branden Grace, Ryo Ishikawa, Danny Willett, Kristoffer Broberg and Kiradech Aphibarnrat — it must be.

TaylorMade UDI (Ultimate Driving Iron)

Rose’s Missing Driver

Rose’s caddie, Mark Fulcher, arranged to send two drivers as gifts to a few of his friends, according to reports. One of the drivers he gave away was Rose’s game-day driver! It was eventually returned, but only after he started the first round of the championship.

“It was a bit of a comedic start to the day, no doubt,” Rose said.

Stenson calmly snaps wedge

“I slipped,” Stenson said. “Let’s just leave it at that … They will fix it and knowing that makes it easier for us to break clubs. It will need a bit of love after lunch.”

There’s something to be said for how calmly he snapped that wedge, almost with a sense of class. Is that possible? A classy club snap? Stenson redefined how to break a club over your knee, with the emphasis on “-fined.”

Stenson also made the switch to Callaway Mack Daddy 2 Tour grind wedges in the bag this week (52 and 60 degrees).

Hoylake’s First Aid Kit

In the face!

Fans and spectators had a rough Open Championship. Tiger smacked this marshal in the face with his drive, and Ernie Els hit someone in the face on his opening tee shot, which opened up a flood of blood from the victim. Els was clearly shaken up and four-putted the first green on his way to a missed cut.

Jason Day also made the injury report by seeking medical attention for his thumb, which was clearly in pain after a shot out of the thick rough during his first round. He can’t seem to shake off this thumb injury that won’t go away. He finished T58, but wasn’t in top form physically.

I won’t make the obligatory joke asking “who said golf isn’t a contact sport?” because that would be so predictable. Or did I just make it?

Most interactive Major ever

With the players’ least favorite equipment story, but the spectators’ favorite, the championship this week is being reported as the most interactive major golf event to date. Wireless Internet was offered in every grandstand, so fans with a mobile phone and/or tablets were able to watch the BBC coverage, track players with GPS and receive scoring updates immediately. The Open Championship hasn’t always been phone-friendly. Just a few years ago, cell phones were banned from the premises by fans, but now the tournament is embracing the interactivity.

“The experience for our spectators will, I believe, be the best they have ever received,” said Peter Unsworth, chairman of the R&A’s championship committee. “Using their own smartphones and tablets, and our groundbreaking Wi-Fi network which is available in every grandstand, they will be able to enjoy live BBC television and radio coverage, live scoring and get news and updates without leaving their seat…The information available to our spectators has never been so readily available.”

The wireless signals were installed as an experiment last year, but the positive results led the R&A to begin installing its own fiber optic network in most of The Open Championships moving forward, with Hoylake being the first. This didn’t make Tiger happy…

…to say the least.

Official Long-Drive Contest

Rory McIlroy and Dustin Johnson unleashed on their drives at No. 17 during Friday’s second round, where The Open Championship’s official long-drive contest was being held (and by official I mean I made it up). Dustin had the longest drive of the week at 397 yards, with McIlroy finishing one yard short of him, but I’m sure Dustin would trade his long drive title in for the Claret Jug.

McIlroy drove it 327.8 yards off the tee for the week; I don’t think he used Tiger’s formula from 2006. Dustin averaged 310.3 yards off the tee, which was good for 4th in driving distance, but only managed to finish T12 for the championship after failing to make a run on Sunday.

Click here to see the move Rory does in his swing to hit it so far.

Driving stats were taken on holes Nos. 5 and 16 where a majority of the players were hitting driver, but Rory was fearless all week, hitting driver on holes that most played more conservatively from the tee. He finally backed off by hitting 2 iron off the tee on the 72nd hole of the championship in order to protect his lead and keep from going out of bounds, but I don’t think anyone can hold that against him.

GolfWRX: What was the most important club in the bag this week and why?

Rory: My VRS Covert 2.0 Tour driver. I played the Par 5’s in 12 under for the week and my driver was essential to this performance. The driver enabled me to play aggressively and take on the Par 5’s.

Rory’s driver: Nike Covert 2.0 (8.5 degrees)
Shaft: Mitsubishi Rayon Kuro Kage Silver TiNi 70TX

Dustin’s driver: TaylorMade SLDR (10.5 degrees)
Shaft: Fujikura Fuel 2.0 (X-Flex)

Umbrellas

Or the lack thereof.

The R&A made a decision to use split tee’s on Saturday for the first time in the Championship’s history to avoid a severe storm in the area. The decision allowed players to stay dry throughout the week; no windbreakers, no umbrellas and a relatively calm week at The Open. Royal Liverpool saw about an inch of rain in an hour on Saturday, according to reports, after play was finished for the day. The R&A was catching a lot of flack from the players and media for their decision, but it turned out to be the right one.

Spieth Putter Switch

Jordan Spieth, after a slow start to the championship over the first two rounds, switched from a Scotty Cameron 009 prototype to a Scotty Cameron Futura X5R halfway through the tournament. He shot a Saturday 67, but failed to keep momentum going with a Sunday 73, and ended the championship T36, 15 shots back of fellow young-gun Rory McIlroy.

Ping G30

Ping’s G30 and its “turbulators” were packed into the bags of several more players this week for the jump over the pond, or maybe they flew by themselves?

Lee Westwood and Miguel Angel Jiminez were the most notable names to put the G30 in the bag this week, but they didn’t seem to help much. Matt Kuchar put a G30 3 wood in play during the second round, also to little avail.

Kuchar finished T54, while Westwood and Jiminez both missed the cut. The best finish from a turbulator was on the driver of Angel Cabrera who finished in the top 20 despite a disastrous opening-round 76.

The Claret Jug

The hardware!

It’s really the only meaningful equipment story. Rory McIlroy brought home the Claret Jug, his third different major trophy, at the age of 25. But maybe he would’t have if it wasn’t for his driver and trusty MM Proto 2 iron.

And according to reports, Rory stayed true to his youth by gracing the inside of the Claret Jug with Jagermeister, drink of champions (maybe “champions” needs not be plural, maybe just this one particular champion).

According to a Tweet from Love Belfast, Rory filled up the Claret Jug with Jagermeister.

GolfWRX: Which one of your three major championship wins are you most proud of at this moment?

Rory: Winning any major is a huge thrill. Each one is very special to me so it is hard to choose a favourite. Growing up and playing links golf as an amateur, The Open Championship was always a favourite of mine.  So, it’s not only special to win this major, but to also reach my third leg in the career grand slam.