Rory McIlroy has been playing with an illegal driver.....caught at the PGA Championship

[Special K]

https://www.golfdigest.com/story/pga-championship-2025-rory-mcilroy-driver

 

To me, this calls into question his wins at the Masters and the Players Championship this year, as he was obviously using the same driver in those tournaments. It seems like the PGA Tour is trying to sweep this under the rug because he is their "Golden Boy" by saying a driver can become non-conforming through general use, but it seems to be the equivalent of a Baseball player Corking his bat.

 

Granted, I haven't been the biggest fan of his, but it seems he crossed the line to get himself that elusive Masters title. I think the PGA Tour needs to "sack up" and investigate this further, instead of letting him skate like this.

 

By the way, with his new legal driver, he barely made the cut, and sits over 10 shots behind leader Scottie Scheffler going into tomorrow's final round.

Edited 14 hours ago by Special K

[BillsPride12]

This kind of reminds me in the 90s in the NHL sometimes players would have an illegal curve on their stick and teams could challenge it and if it wasn't legal a penalty could be assessed.  I feel like I haven't seen a challenge for that in years.  Is that no longer a thing?

[f0neguy]

Just curious, I’d like to hear what actually made it illegal 🤔.

Have to imagine that their clubs are tweaked so precisely to their swings what would cross the line?

[Steve O]

16 minutes ago, f0neguy said:

Just curious, I’d like to hear what actually made it illegal 🤔.

Have to imagine that their clubs are tweaked so precisely to their swings what would cross the line?

 

While the reason for the non-conformance was not released, the likelyhood is that, through so many strikes at such a fast swing speed, his driver face became too thin and was deemed nonconforming.

One of the limits set by the USGA and the R&A is on a driver’s Characteristic Time (CT). CT measures the time it takes for a clubface to contact the ball and how long it spends in contact with the ball after impact.

This is a measurement of the springiness of the clubface, which will be a factor in how far the ball can fly after being struck. There is a limit to the number of microseconds allowed when tested.

 

[Steve O]

9 hours ago, Special K said:

https://www.golfdigest.com/story/pga-championship-2025-rory-mcilroy-driver

 

To me, this calls into question his wins at the Masters and the Players Championship this year, as he was obviously using the same driver in those tournaments. It seems like the PGA Tour is trying to sweep this under the rug because he is their "Golden Boy" by saying a driver can become non-conforming through general use, but it seems to be the equivalent of a Baseball player Corking his bat.

 

Granted, I haven't been the biggest fan of his, but it seems he crossed the line to get himself that elusive Masters title. I think the PGA Tour needs to "sack up" and investigate this further, instead of letting him skate like this.

 

By the way, with his new legal driver, he barely made the cut, and sits over 10 shots behind leader Scottie Scheffler going into tomorrow's final round.

Your bias is evident in the title. There is no evidence he has been playing with an illegal driver. None, zero. While he is sure to face questions about it, it is not obvious if he used the same driver in Masters or Players Championship. But even if he was using the same driver, it is likely that the driver was legal at the time.

From the article in your link: "...while the CT limits are clear, it's also true that a driver can be conforming one week and fall into a non-conforming state the next week through general use...That change could take hundreds of hits, could take a dozen or might just be one; it depends on how close to the limit the driver was in the first place...the difference between a conforming driver and a non-conforming driver, particularly in this instance, is probably a foot or two at most. Not yards."

 

Edited 5 hours ago by Steve O

[4merper4mer]

14 minutes ago, Steve O said:

Your bias is evident in the title. There is no evidence he has been playing with an illegal driver. None, zero. While he is sure to face questions about it, it is not obvious if he used the same driver in Masters or Players Championship. 

From the article in your link: "...while the CT limits are clear, it's also true that a driver can be conforming one week and fall into a non-conforming state the next week through general use...That change could take hundreds of hits, could take a dozen or might just be one; it depends on how close to the limit the driver was in the first place...the difference between a conforming driver and a non-conforming driver, particularly in this instance, is probably a foot or two at most. Not yards."

 

Rules are rules .  He broke them.  See: Pete Rose.

[Steve O]

35 minutes ago, 4merper4mer said:

Rules are rules .  He broke them.  See: Pete Rose.

Rules are rules. And facts are stubborn things. See: John Adams (the former president that successfully defended British soldiers after the Boston Massacre.) And the fact is he did NOT break any rules. Saying that he did again and again won't change that.

Edited 4 hours ago by Steve O

[US Egg]

“The CT limit is 239 microseconds, with a tolerance that extends to 257 microseconds. For all practical purpose, that range is within the noise of its ultimate effect on driver ball speeds.“ 

 

Well this is certainly easy enough to understand. 😵‍💫

[Special K]

1 hour ago, Steve O said:

Rules are rules. And facts are stubborn things. See: John Adams (the former president that successfully defended British soldiers after the Boston Massacre.) And the fact is he did NOT break any rules. Saying that he did again and again won't change that.

 

If it was an honest mistake, then he could talk with the media and clear up any misunderstandings right away.......oh right, he has refused to talk to the media all week.......that's not suspicious at all.

[Miyagi-Do Karate]

1 hour ago, Steve O said:

Your bias is evident in the title. There is no evidence he has been playing with an illegal driver. None, zero. While he is sure to face questions about it, it is not obvious if he used the same driver in Masters or Players Championship. But even if he was using the same driver, it is likely that the driver was legal at the time.

From the article in your link: "...while the CT limits are clear, it's also true that a driver can be conforming one week and fall into a non-conforming state the next week through general use...That change could take hundreds of hits, could take a dozen or might just be one; it depends on how close to the limit the driver was in the first place...the difference between a conforming driver and a non-conforming driver, particularly in this instance, is probably a foot or two at most. Not yards."

 

Agreed. From what I have read about this stuff, it’s a pretty technical issue that deals with basic wear and tear on the club face and the PGA doesn’t treat it as all that significant. 

[Augie]

I guess my foot wedge is probably going to face some scrutiny as well. 

[4merper4mer]

1 hour ago, Steve O said:

Rules are rules. And facts are stubborn things. See: John Adams (the former president that successfully defended British soldiers after the Boston Massacre.) And the fact is he did NOT break any rules. Saying that he did again and again won't change that.

Golf has always been far and away the most stringent on applying it’s rules.  A prominent golfer, I think Ray Floyd, not sure, was disqualified for kneeling on a towel to keep his pants clean on an awkward shot.  That’s because the towel “elevated his stance” or some such.  But Rory shouldn’t have to answer for an illegal club?  Why is that?  Because you’re a fan?  

[Steve O]

2 minutes ago, 4merper4mer said:

Golf has always been far and away the most stringent on applying it’s rules.  A prominent golfer, I think Ray Floyd, not sure, was disqualified for kneeling on a towel to keep his pants clean on an awkward shot.  That’s because the towel “elevated his stance” or some such.  But Rory shouldn’t have to answer for an illegal club?  Why is that?  Because you’re a fan?  

re towel penalty - It was Craig Stadler that had the towel penalty. It was reported by a fan. Fans can no longer call in to report a penalty. Probably more a result of an incident involving Lexi Thompson than the Stadler towel thing.

re Rory answering for an illegal club - Again, he did NOT use an illegal club. And again, saying that he did over and over again won't change that.

[Steve O]

43 minutes ago, Special K said:

 

If it was an honest mistake, then he could talk with the media and clear up any misunderstandings right away.......oh right, he has refused to talk to the media all week.......that's not suspicious at all.

Right. No chance he wants to avoid distractions whilst trying to win another major championship. Out of curiosity, what rule did he break? Never mind, rhetorical question, he didn't break any rule.

[4merper4mer]

24 minutes ago, Steve O said:

Right. No chance he wants to avoid distractions whilst trying to win another major championship. Out of curiosity, what rule did he break? Never mind, rhetorical question, he didn't break any rule.

Avoid distractions?  Sure.  Also avoiding honor and dignity and eroding the integrity of the game.  He’s being a Tom Brady-sequel weasel.

[Special K]

35 minutes ago, Steve O said:

Right. No chance he wants to avoid distractions whilst trying to win another major championship. Out of curiosity, what rule did he break? Never mind, rhetorical question, he didn't break any rule.

 

The dude was the number 1 driver of the ball this year.....long, straight, and accurate.....winning every tournament......he gets caught with a driver that is deemed illegal.....the same driver he had been using all year.......the PGA Tour will protect him from scrutiny because he is one of their big stars......with his new legal driver, he is spraying the ball all over the course, and is nowhere near the front of the leaderboard......he won't talk to the media to clear up the confusion.

 

Put the pieces of the puzzle together.