By Frank Pingue
CHARLOTTE, North Carolina (Reuters) – The PGA of America said on Saturday that finding driver heads that are non-conforming is not unusual and they have no concerns about player intent after Masters champion Rory McIlroy reportedly ran afoul of the rule at the PGA Championship.
According to a SiriusXM PGA Tour Radio report, McIlroy’s driver was ruled non-conforming ahead of this week’s major where he switched to a backup and made the cut on the number after struggling off the tee through the first two rounds.
McIlroy, who made the cut on the number and began the third round nine shots back of halfway lead Jhonattan Vegas, did not speak to media after his first two rounds.
The PGA of America said in a statement it requested the USGA conduct club testing this week at Quail Hollow and the testing program is consistent with support the USGA provides to the PGA Tour and other championships.
“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,” PGA of America Chief Championships Officer Kerry Haigh said in a statement.
“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 PGA of America also said the standard process is for about a third of the field to be randomly tested, which was the case this week at Quail Hollow where 156 golfers were in the starting field.
(Reporting by Frank Pingue, editing by Pritha Sarkar)
