[PHOTO: Jared C. Tilton]
Rory McIlroy had to switch drivers at the PGA Championship after his ‘gamer’ was deemed non-conforming, according to a report by SiriusXM PGA Tour Radio’s Jason Sobel.
McIlroy is known as the best driver of the golf ball of his generation. Entering Quail Hollow he ranked first in strokes gained/off the tee and third in driving distance for the PGA Tour season. However, he struggled during the opening round at Quail Hollow, finding just four fairways en route to posting a three-over 74. McIlroy did not stop for the media, instead heading to the range to work on his game.
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According to the report, the USGA deemed McIlroy’s driver non-conforming on Tuesday. Earlier on Friday (US time), Golf Digest sent a request for comment to McIlroy’s representatives about whether McIlroy’s driver had failed compliance, but no correspondence was returned.
The R&A and USGA are often brought into tournaments to randomly test drivers for their compliance. Test results are not released to the public and kept within tight groups. The most notable incident came at the 2019 Open Championship, when Xander Schauffele told the media after his Friday round that his driver was taken and sounded off about what he perceived to be an unfair process.
“I would gladly give up my driver if it’s not conforming. But there’s still 130 other players in the field that potentially have a non-conforming driver as well,” Schauffele said. “Had a word with [the R&A], and hopefully they take my comments seriously and my concern just because it wasn’t my plan to show up Monday morning of a major or Tuesday – sorry, it was Tuesday evening where I was doing driver testing here. It’s not really what players want to be doing.
“What’s the fair thing to do? Just test the whole field. It’s plain and simple. When I talked to them, they didn’t really know how to… you can’t really answer that question. You test everyone, it’s simple as that.”
The news comes a month after McIlroy, 35, completed the career Grand Slam by capturing the Masters in a playoff over Justin Rose. McIlroy has also won the Players Championship and AT&T Pebble Beach Pro-Am.
