CHARLOTTE, N.C. — A day late, the PGA of America finally issued a statement Saturday about Rory McIlroy’s driver being deemed “non-conforming’’ following a random check by the USGA, the game’s governing body.
McIlroy’s regular driver was tested Tuesday and seemed illegal, which forced him to use a different driver for the PGA Championship.
McIlroy entered Saturday’s third round at Quail Hollow having hit only 10-of-28 fairways through the first two rounds, which is highly uncharacteristic of one of the best drivers in the sport.
Neither McIlroy nor the PGA of America addressed the situation Friday, and McIlroy, who is 2-over heading into Sunday’s final round, also did not talk to the media on Saturday.
This was the statement issued Saturday by Kerry Haigh, the Chief Championships Officer of the PGA of America: “We can confirm that the USGA was invited to do club testing at the PGA Championship, at the PGA of America’s request. That testing program is consistent with the same level of support that the USGA provides to the PGA Tour and other championships, as part of their regular programs for driver testing.”
How does a driver become nonconforming?
Normal wear and tear on the clubface can make it thinner than is allowed by the USGA.
It’s possible to be within the limits for one tournament and then — through usage — be outside of the limits in the next.
One of the limits set by the USGA and the R&A is on a driver’s Characteristic Time (CT), which measures the time it takes for a clubface to contact the ball and how long it spends in contact with the ball after impact.
This is a measurement of the springiness of the clubface, which will be a factor in how far the ball can fly after being struck, with limits in the number of microseconds allowed when tested.
It’s likely that in this case, McIlroy’s driver face, through so many strikes, became too thin and thus was deemed nonconforming.
“This is something that happens week to week on the PGA Tour,” Golf Channel’s Johnson Wagner, a former winner on the PGA Tour, said on the air. “It’s unfortunate this has happened in the week of a major and might have cost him a few shots, but he has done nothing wrong at all.”
Former Ryder Cup captain Paul McGinley, who also works for the Golf Channel, was critical of the organizations not making the results public, saying, “If the USGA have found that the driver is illegal, then put out a statement accordingly so that we’re all clear on it and we move on.”
Defending PGA champion Xander Schauffele had the same thing happen to him before the 2019 British Open.
His driver was one of 30 selected for random testing at the start of that week at Royal Portrush and found to be noncompliant.
That forced him to use a different club in the first round before adjusting the original for rounds two and three, and it left him angry because word got out.
“The R&A, they pissed me off because they attempted to ruin my image by not keeping this matter private,” Schauffele said at the time. “This is me coming out and treating them the exact way they treated me. The only time I am an unhappy camper is when I feel like I’m treated unfairly. It is an unsettling topic.
“I’ve been called a cheater by my fellow opponents. It’s all joking, but when someone yells ‘cheater’ in front of 200 people, to me it’s not going to go down very well.”