PGA Championship Officials Confirm Driver Tests That Reportedly Included Rory McIlroy

The Masters champion is reportedly playing with a backup driver after his regular was deemed non-conforming Tuesday via testing that is common around majors and PGA Tour events.

Rory McIlroy made the cut on the number at the PGA Championship with a backup driver. / Aaron Doster-Imagn Images

CHARLOTTE, N.C. — Although there was no official confirmation that Rory McIlroy’s driver was deemed non-conforming—and thus needed to be replaced—prior to the PGA Championship, the organization that runs the tournament released a statement on Saturday afternoon explaining the process.

Kerry Haigh, the chief championships officer for the PGA of America, confirmed that the United States Golf Association administered club testing this week.

As part of the statement, Haigh explained that this is common at tournaments, that repeated hitting of balls with a driver can cause a club to cross the testing threshold limit, without knowledge of the players.

“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,” Haigh said in the 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.”

PGA Tour Sirius XMRadio reported Friday afternoon that McIlroy’s driver was deemed non-conforming during a Tuesday testing session at Quail Hollow, necessitating the Masters champion go to a backup driver.

McIlroy competed at both the Zurich Classic of New Orleans and the Truist Championship since winning the Masters.

As Haigh explained, the results are not made public. McIlroy, who made the 36-hole cut on the number, did not speak to reporters after his third round Saturday. And the PGA of America originally said Friday it would not be commenting.

The PGA Tour has testing protocols but does not necessarily test every player’s driver in a given week and players are generally selected randomly for testing.

In a social media post Saturday morning PGA Tour player Michael Kim, who made the cut at the PGA Championship, said: “We get our drivers tested randomly… probably every month or so. I had my driver taken away at Amex (the American Express Championship) and somewhere else ... it’s about half a yard of difference but a line has to be drawn somewhere. I do test multiple heads afterwards to find a head that I like since they’re not all exactly the same.”

We get our drivers tested randomly.. prob every month or so. I had my driver taken away at Amex and somewhere else… It’s about half a yard of difference but a line has to be drawn somewhere. I do test multiple heads afterwards to find a head that I like since they’re not all…

— Michael S. Kim (@Mike_kim714) May 17, 2025

In 2019, the 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 something known as “spring-like” effect and thus become non-conforming.

Under Rule 4.1b(1), a player is disqualified if he uses a non-conforming club during a round.