Rory Using Backup After Driver Deemed Non-Conforming At PGA

After an impressive start to the PGA TOUR season, Rory McIlroy came into the PGA Championship as one of the favorites - (just as a refresher, the PGA and PGA Tour are separate entities. So now that we have that out of the way).

Anyway, like I said, Rory came to Quail Hollow looking to once again win at a course that has yielded so much success, but as the second round concludes, he sits 9-shots back of the leader, Jhonathan Vegas, and there could be one glaring reason - a new driver.

As picked up by Jason Sobel, who works for PGA TOUR radio along with CBS Sports, reported late into Rory's round on Friday, his driver was tested earlier in the week by the USGA, who were on site at the PGA Championship, and the driver was deemed nonconforming.

This means that before the start of the event, he had to switch to a backup, and considering Quail Hollow comes in at over 7600 yards, being comfy with your driver is key!

How Does This Happen?

The likelihood is that Rory's gamer driver, which he has used since 2024, had gotten too "hot" meaning it produced a CT (Coefficient of Time) that was too high. The higher the CT, the faster the ball will come off the face and the more potential distance a driver can produce.

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Unlike conventional thinking, where someone might believe that their driver has "lost its pop" with more use, it's actually the reverse. The more a driver is used, the faster the face becomes because of the number of times the face has been flexed, especially at higher speeds. The more the face flexes on impact, the more the metal — or carbon, in the case of McIlroy’s Qi10 — starts to wear down. Considering Rory is one of the fastest players on tour, the life cycle of his drivers are going to be a lot shorter than other less speedy players.

If this sounds familiar, it's because it happened before to Rory at the Players in 2023, and also happened to Xander Schauffele at the 2019 Open Championship.

What Can Be Done?

With golfers looking to gain as much distance as possible, manufacturers are constantly making clubs that push up to the limit, meaning that they need to be checked more often and once they get to a certain point they need to be replaced.

Lucky for someone like Rory, the tour trucks are on hand all week leading up to the event to help make sure he's dialed into his new driver, so hopefully as he gets more comfy, he'll work his way up the leaderboard this weekend.

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