CHARLOTTE, N.C. — Rory McIlroy was not the only top contender told to switch drivers prior to this year’s PGA Championship. Scottie Scheffler just had more success with his new stick.
Scheffler, speaking Sunday after winning the PGA Championship at Quail Hollow by five strokes, confirmed that his driver was indeed part of the random testing conducted by the USGA and it was deemed to be nonconforming.
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“So the driver testing is something that regularly happens on (the PGA) Tour. My driver did fail me this week,” Scheffler said. “We had a feeling that it was going to be coming because I’ve used that driver for over a year. I was kind of fortunate for it to last that long, I felt like.”
McIlroy has found himself caught up in controversy after Jason Sobel reported on SiriusXM that McIlroy was forced to trade his driver for another on Tuesday. McIlroy struggled to find fairways, shot a first-round 74, made the cut on the number and finished tied for 47th this week at 3 over par.
It was presumably a disappointing result for McIlroy, but he declined to speak with media, including any broadcast rights partners, after all four days of competition. Sobel has contributed stories to The Athletic.
A driver being ruled nonconforming is not suggestive of intent, but rather a reality of golf equipment, particularly modern golf clubs. As manufacturers push the technology at the same time players are hitting the ball at incredible speeds, repeated use can simply wear down the face of a driver.
“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. 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,” said Kerry Haigh, PGA of America Chief of Championships Officer, in a statement.
Xander Schauffele told GolfWeek on Sunday that he feels driver testing should be strengthened, an argument that Scheffler agrees with. Fifty players or a third of the field is tested each week.
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“It’s a newer rule that we haven’t quite gotten right yet. I think we have some stuff to figure out. I think, if we’re going to do it, we might as well do it right, get more robust and get even more strict,” Scheffler said. “You can test guys every week, if you want. I mean, there’s no reason why we shouldn’t.”
(Photo of Rory McIlroy: Kevin C. Cox / Getty Images)
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