CHARLOTTE, N.C. — He may be nine shots off the lead and have made the cut on the number, but there still is plenty of attention around Rory McIlroy at Quail Hollow.
More specifically, around Rory McIlroy’s driver.
McIlroy swapped out driver heads this week. His newbie is a TaylorMade Qi10 model, just like his gamer, but more polished; the driver McIlroy had in his bag at Philadelphia Cricket Club last week had defined wear marks on the sole (see below). This might not have raised eyebrows if McIlroy hadn’t won the Masters with his gamer a month ago, and if he had played well with the new driver head this week at the PGA Championship.
But McIlroy hasn’t driven it well at all, hitting just four fairways on Thursday and six on Friday. In the middle of that Friday round, SiriusXM reported that McIlroy’s old driver head had been deemed “no longer permissible” by the USGA, which is overseeing driver testing this week at Quail Hollow, just as it does at PGA Tour events. That phrasing is vague enough that it could mean a number of things, but SiriusXM staffer Jason Sobel clarified it meant the driver was deemed “non-conforming by the USGA.”
During the Sirius XM spot, host Taylor Zarzour said: “[McIlroy] was not able to use it this week — his gamer, if you will. it was deemed to be no longer permissible. Whether it was cracked or something had happened to the head. Rory [was] unable to use that driver and switched drivers yesterday…”
