Scheffler: 'Get more robust ... more strict'
PGA champ was prepared when his driver failed compliance testing; Rory was called out
Scottie Scheffler had a backup TaylorMade Qi10 ready to go at Quail Hollow (Darren Carroll/PGA of America)
The discourse over Rory McIlroy’s allegedly non-conforming driver and the one that PGA Championship winner Scottie Scheffler acknowledged had to be replaced prior to the tournament served as a decent thought exercise as to the way our discourse among hot topics plays out in today’s world.
A fact is presented, it is twisted into some erroneous narrative, then spread around without a simple research of the facts.
To summarize: McIlroy, the reigning Masters champion, was said to have had his TaylorMade Qi10 driver deemed non-conforming in a testing procedure conducted randomly among at least a third of the field prior to the PGA Championship.
This was reported by Sirius XM PGA Tour radio and the fact that the PGA Tour’s name is involved lends credibility to the idea that there is no way this was reported without confirmation. McIlroy never acknowledged what occurred; he never spoke to reporters once the tournament began and ended with a T47 thud.
Here’s the deal, however, on the non-conforming club. Driver faces wear over time. After hundreds, if not thousands, of high-impact swings, the thin face can become non-conforming. This is not uncommon.
The USGA tests drivers at each event and it’s quite likely that every time it does, some drivers are found to be non-conforming. It can be fine on one swing and not fine on the next. That is how close to the “line” these drivers are made and it would be impossible for a player to know.
So was Rory’s driver non-conforming at the Masters? Maybe. It also might have been tested that week and been fine. Or tested in New Orleans or Philadelphia, the events he played after the Masters. It’s possible it became non-conforming sometime during that period. Without more information, it’s impossible to know.
It’s probably no stretch to believe, however, that other players, not knowing, might have been playing with non-conforming drivers.
Both Rory McIlroy and Scottie Scheffler had drivers fail pre-PGA testing (Jared C. Tilton/Getty Images)
The system is not a good one. A simple solution is to test every week. Or to test the top 10 players at the end of each tournament. You can bet they won’t take a chance if it means disqualification after the fact. It’s an untenable situation and not the fault of any of the players.
McIlroy’s situation caused enough angst that the PGA of America felt compelled to issue a statement on Saturday — 20 hours after the first report and after first saying it wouldn’t do so.
“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,” said Kerry Haigh, the PGA’s chief championships officer, in a statement. “The standard process is for about a third of the field to be randomly tested under the program. That was the case at Quail Hollow this week.
“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. 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.”
In 2019, the PGA Tour announced a testing policy because, through normal wear and tear, it is not uncommon for a conforming driver to go over the allowable limit for “spring-like” effect and thus become non-conforming.
Players are typically not aware if there is an issue with their clubs.
A player who uses a non-conforming club faces disqualification from the tournament.
Scheffler, who won the third major championship of his career and consecutive events he played on the PGA Tour, said he was aware his driver might be close to the limit and had been preparing to make a switch.
He also called for testing of all players not just random sampling.
“So the driver testing is something that regularly happens on tour,” he said after winning the Wanamaker Trophy. “My driver did fail me this week. 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.
“I would argue that if we’re going to test the drivers, we need to be even more robust in the way we test them. That was a conversation I had with one of the rules officials; if it’s something we’re going to take seriously, I feel like we’re almost going halfway with it right now.
“If we're going to test only a third of the field. If we’re going to do it right, leave it up to us as players, like the rest of the rules in the game of golf are. 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. You can test guys every week, if you want. I mean, there’s no reason why we shouldn’t.”
To Scheffler’s credit, he and his team started working with his backup driver during the week of the CJ Cup Byron Nelson tournament, which he won by tying the record low 72-hole score on the PGA Tour. For him, the transition was relatively simple.
“Like I said, we were prepared for it,” said Scheffler, who like McIlroy plays a TaylorMade Qi10 driver. “I had used my driver for over a year. With the amount of practice that I do, I felt like I was fortunate for it to last that long.
“The team at TaylorMade … did a really good job. Actually the week of the Byron, we were really focused on getting it back up for that tournament and this one. Like I said, we were really prepared. So it wasn’t that big of a deal.”
It wasn’t a big deal to Scheffler. But the story took on a life of its own as it related to McIlroy. It shouldn’t have. The lack of transparency from golf officials and McIlroy’s own reluctance to set it straight didn’t help. Bottom line, Scheffler is right but for a change of working: it shouldn’t have been a big deal.