{"id":434787,"date":"2025-05-18T22:20:07","date_gmt":"2025-05-18T22:20:07","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/golf\/?p=434787"},"modified":"2025-05-18T22:20:07","modified_gmt":"2025-05-18T22:20:07","slug":"rory-mcilroy-found-with-noncompliant-driver","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/golf\/rory-mcilroy-found-with-noncompliant-driver\/","title":{"rendered":"Rory McIlroy Found With Noncompliant Driver"},"content":{"rendered":"

With the PGA Championship in full swing, some strange things are happening with the players, as well as the game.\u00a0 The event went off with a flying start as mud balls flew across the field and into the water<\/a>.\u00a0 There have been some withdrawals due to injuries<\/a>.\u00a0 Also, Rory McIlroy almost went into the event with a noncompliant driver head.\u00a0 The reigning champion of the Masters tournament, who is looking to bring home the win for the PGA Championship<\/a>, had an illegal driver in his bag.\u00a0 However, this mishap doesn\u2019t look to be his fault at all.<\/span><\/p>\n

The Driver Test<\/span><\/h2>\n

Ahead of every event, the USGA and the R&A come in to test clubs at random.\u00a0 The randomness of the testing is, of course, to keep players on their toes.\u00a0 The test in question is a Characteristic Time test.\u00a0 This test is where a club is placed into a machine, and a pendulum and sensor are used to measure how springy the face of the club is.\u00a0 They do this at the behest of the PGA.\u00a0 It is also a test that happens ahead of every event.\u00a0 It is just routine practice, and the PGA is more than willing to keep it happening.\u00a0 It\u2019s not clear how many clubs were tested, just who didn\u2019t pass.\u00a0 This time, Rory McIlroy\u2019s clubs were tested and were put in the crosshairs.\u00a0 This is confirmed by Jason Sobel, a reporter for PGA Tour Radio<\/a>.<\/span><\/p>\n

McIlroy\u2019s Club<\/span><\/h2>\n

Going into the event, McIlroy normally plays with a TaylorMade Qi10 driver.\u00a0 This was the club that the test deemed noncompliant and had to be changed.\u00a0 This is not an indictment on McIlroy, a club can be noncompliant for any number of reasons.\u00a0 The club in question was certainly not modified; if it was, McIlroy would have been in deep trouble.\u00a0 The most likely reason for the non-compliance is simple wear and tear.\u00a0 All the use that club has seen just left it worn down enough to cross that line and not be fit for play.\u00a0 Better replace it now than when it falls apart while teeing off.\u00a0 The actual reason was not given, and McIlroy hasn\u2019t commented on the situation and probably doesn\u2019t see a reason to, given how routine it is.<\/span><\/p>\n

McIlroy After Getting A Replacement<\/span><\/h2>\n

McIlroy seems to be struggling a bit with this new club.\u00a0 Granted, the field is not in the best condition, so there is more than one factor working against him.\u00a0 He\u2019s just not used to this new club, and is more accustomed to the old one, warts and all.\u00a0 He managed to hit a ball into the water along with two other players.\u00a0 One ball bounced off the roof of a grandstand, probably giving the spectators a good jolt before landing on the riverbank.\u00a0 Barely made it.<\/span><\/p>\n

What Now For Rory McIlroy?<\/span><\/h2>\n

McIlroy hasn\u2019t commented on his performance after the first two rounds and instead has taken to the practice range.\u00a0 He will get back into the swing of things in due time.\u00a0 It would be a good idea for him to have identical clubs on hand in case this happens again.\u00a0 It would also be interesting to see how many non-compliant clubs are out on the field at any given time.<\/span><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Main Photo Credit:\u00a0 \u00a9 Aaron Doster-Imagn Images<\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

With the PGA Championship in full swing, some strange things are happening with the players, as well as the game.\u00a0 The event went off with a flying start as mud balls flew across the field and into the water.\u00a0 There have been some withdrawals due to injuries.\u00a0 Also, Rory McIlroy almost went into the event […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":5429,"featured_media":434788,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_lmt_disableupdate":"no","_lmt_disable":"","sfio_featured_image":false,"sfio_embed_code":"","_ef_editorial_meta_date_first-draft-date":"","_ef_editorial_meta_paragraph_assignment":"","_ef_editorial_meta_checkbox_needs-photo":"","_ef_editorial_meta_number_word-count":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[15,246,19],"tags":[53,34],"class_list":["post-434787","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-golf","category-golf-news","category-pga","tag-pga-championship","tag-rory-mcilroy"],"modified_by":"Taylor Craig","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/golf\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/434787","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/golf\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/golf\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/golf\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/5429"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/golf\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=434787"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/golf\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/434787\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":434789,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/golf\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/434787\/revisions\/434789"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/golf\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/434788"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/golf\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=434787"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/golf\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=434787"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/golf\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=434787"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}