PGA championship: the non-compliant driver of Rory McILroy-what happened, what are the rules and how common the problems are? | News Golf
The hopes of Rory McILroy of consecutive consecutive titles were disturbed by a driver who is not confirming the forcing to replace late before the PGA championship.
The most recent Golf Golf Chelem champion was among the favorites to add to his total to the Quail Hollow Club, a place where he recorded his first PGA Tour title in 2010 and won three times more since.
McILroy is already a triple winner of the PGA Tour this season – including a fifth major victory at the Masters, the North Irishman leading the features won over the TEE statistics during his dominant start to the countryside.
The story was reported for the first time by XM Sirius Pga Tour Radio, who said that the regular driver of McILroy had been tested and judged non -compliant after his arrival at Quail Hollow Tuesday. The report that McILroy had to use a replacement driver was confirmed by his management team in Sky Sports.
McILroy found only two fairways off the tee during an irregular opening tour, which left him 10 strokes of early advance, with the world No. 2 – which displayed a 69 under 69 Friday – tied in the precision of the driving among the 74 players who made the cut.
What has the PGA of America said about it?
A statement on Saturday by Kerry Haigh, head of the American PGA championships, said: “We can confirm that the USGA was invited to do club tests at the PGA championship, at the request of the PGA of America.
“This test program is consistent with the same level of support that the USGA provides to the PGA Tour and other championships, as part of its regular programs for pilot tests. The standard process is about a third of the field to be tested at random as part of the program. This was the case at Quail Hollow this week.
The driver of Rory McILroy was judged not in accordance with the USGA before the PGA championship
“Finding driver’s heads that have slipped above the compliance line is not an unusual event, especially for clubs that have struck thousands of times over a long period.
“The results are kept confidential to protect players, who ignore that the club has fallen from compliance and is not responsible for its compliance other than hitting the club thousands of times. Players are simply invited to change their heads if necessary, and all the fact without problem.
“To publicly identify the players whose club did not comply can lead to that this player is questioned unnecessarily. Neither the USGA nor the PGA in America have concerns about the intention of the players.”
What is the frequency of a non -compliant pilot?
The normal wear and tear of a driver can make it non -compliant, with the possible to be within the limits of a tournament, then – by use – to be outside the limits of the next.
Sky Sports understands that McILroy was one of the dozens of players who had non -compliant drivers this week and all had to make these changes. McILroy would have had a replacement pilot corresponding to his exact specifications, allowing a similar driver’s head to have placed on his existing tree.
“This is something that happens weekdays on the week on the PGA Tour,” said Johnson Wagner, former winner of the PGA Tour, at PGA Championship Radio. “It is regrettable that this happened in the week of a major and that he could have cost him a few strokes – but he did not hurt anything at all.”
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Rory McILroy stuttering in the weekend on the brand after mixing six birdies with four Bogeys in his second round 69 at the PGA Championship
Todd Lewis of Golf Channel said: “When a driver especially hits a golf ball so many times, and especially with the speed that McILroy brings to the golf ball, this head will wear and this face will become thin.
“In the end, too thin for USGA standards, then it becomes non -compliant.”
Brandel Chamblee explain: “It is not an indictment of the equipment company or the player, it is just a fact that they are against the edge. They are only so successful, then they are cracking or they become too fine.”
What McILroy said?
McILroy refused to speak to the media after each of his first two laps, a decision that Rex Hoggard of Golf Channel described as “surprising”.
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Highlights of the last round of the Masters in Augusta National, where Rory McILroy finished the big career goat after having beaten Justin Rose in a playoff series
“McILroy is generally very accommodating with the media,” said Hoggard on Friday. “I was in New Orleans just a few weeks ago after this Masters’ victory and he signed up every day. It was a victory tour for him, so it’s a bit surprising.
“I guess it has a little to do with the way he drives the ball and a little to do with the fact that he probably does not want to answer a lot of questions about his driver’s test.”
The former captain of the Ryder Cup, Paul McGinley, questioned the report not being made public, adding: “”If the USGA – as indicated – noted that the driver is illegal, then publish a declaration accordingly so that we are all clear on it and that we move on. “”
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Paul McGinley reacts to the slow start of Rory McILroy in the PGA championship and the possible reasons behind her
What makes a pilot non-compliant?
A limit fixed by the USGA and the R&A is on time characteristic of a driver (CT), which measures the time required for a club face to contact the ball and how long it spends in contact with the ball after impact.
It is essentially a measure of the spring of the face of the club, which will be a factor insofar as the ball can fly from the TEE, with limits in the number of microseconds authorized during the test.
Rory McILroy is one of the longest strikers in the PGA Tour
The guiding organs say that a driver should not have more than 239 microseconds, although they allow the manufacturing tolerances of 18 microseconds to leave the CT limit to 257 microseconds. Nothing more, and a pilot will be considered non -compliant.
“This program complies with the same level of support that we provide to the PGA Tour as part of their regular program for driving tests”, a USGA spokesperson said to Golfweek. “Tests are carried out before the start of the game. The results are always confidential, as part of regular protocols.”
Who has already been faced with similar problems?
The reigning champion, Xander Schauffele, who joined McILroy during the first three days at Quail Hollow this year, saw information on his non -compliant driver who became public before the 2019 open.
The Schauffele driver was one of the 30 selected for random tests at the start of the week at Royal Portrush and turned out to be non -compliant, forcing him to use another club in the first round before adjusting the original for the two and three laps.
Rory McILroy and Xander Schauffele both cut one at a hollow quail
“The R&A, they extended me because they tried to ruin my image by not keeping this private question,” said Schauffele at the time. “It is I who come out and treat them in the way they treated me.
“The only time I am an unhappy camper is when I have the impression of being treated unfairly. It is a disturbing subject. I was called a cheater by my opponent colleagues. Everything jokes, but when someone screams the” cheater “in front of 200 people, for me, it will not be fine.”
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