After initially providing no comment on a report that Rory McIlroy’s driver had been deemed non-conforming during a USGA test of the club on Tuesday ahead of the PGA Championship, the PGA of America released a statement on Saturday, though it did not address specifics.
Kerry Haigh, the PGA’s chief championships officer, would only confirm that the USGA was invited by the PGA to randomly test the drivers of competitors at Quail Hollow Club. The process, which tests about a third of the field, has been done on the PGA Tour since 2019.
“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,” Haigh said. “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.”
The USGA also declined comment on the SiriusXM PGA Tour Radio report, while McIlroy, after missing 18 of 28 fairways and making the cut on the number at 1 over, declined to speak to the press for the second straight day.
