Report – Rory McIlroy’s driver deemed nonconforming ahead of PGA

Rory McIlroy was forced to use a backup driver in the PGA Championship when his regular driver was tested and deemed to be nonconforming after he arrived at Quail Hollow, according to a report on SiriusXM PGA Tour Radio on Friday.

McIlroy was tied for last in driving accuracy among the 74 players who made the cut Friday, hitting only 10 fairways in two rounds. On Thursday, he hit 4 of 14 fairways, tied for 150th among the 156 players in the field.

The Masters champion made the cut on the number after a bogey on the final hole when he drove left beyond a creek against corporate tents.

For the second straight day, McIlroy left Quail Hollow and declined to speak to the media.

The USGA, which tests clubs to make sure they are conforming at the request of tournaments in the U.S. and Mexico, confirmed it did testing at Quail Hollow when asked by the PGA of America. All tests are done before the first round.

“That program is consistent with the same level of support that we provide to the PGA Tour as part of their regular program for driver testing,” the USGA said.

Results are confidential.

PGA of America chief championships officer Kerry Haigh said in a statement Saturday that about one-third of the field was randomly tested, as is the standard process.

“Finding driver heads that have crept over the line of conformance is not an unusual occurrence, especially for clubs that are hit thousands of times over a long period of time. The results are kept confidential to protect players, who are unaware the club has fallen out of conformance and not responsible for it falling out of conformance other than hitting the club thousands of times. Players are simply asked to change heads if necessary, and all do without issue,” Haigh said. “To publicly identify players whose club did not conform can lead to that player being questioned unnecessarily. Neither the USGA nor the PGA of America have any concerns about player intent.”

One previous testing case was in 2019 at Royal Portrush for The Open, when Xander Schauffele was among 30 players randomly selected to have his driver tested by the R&A, which governs golf everywhere but the U.S. and Mexico.

Schauffele said he wasn’t aware his driver didn’t conform until notified and then worked into Tuesday evening that week to find a replacement. He was furious with the R&A for not keeping the matter confidential.

“I’ve been called a cheater by my fellow opponents,” Schauffele said in 2019. “It’s all joking, but when someone yells ‘cheater’ in front of 200 people to me, it’s not going down very well.”

Drivers often can fall outside the limits after a lot of use. Though McIlroy and others keep backups with them in case they crack, it can take time for the players to feel as comfortable with the new drivers as their regular ones.

McIlroy tied for seventh last week at the Truist Championship. He is coming off the greatest moment of his career last month when he won the Masters on his 17th try to become only the sixth player in history with the career Grand Slam.

Information from ESPN’s Mark Schlabach and The Associated Press was used in this report.