RORY McILROY had his favourite driver snatched away from him at the USPGA Championship because a random test showed it broke the rules.
That ‘dodgy driver’ claim was made in a shock report on Sirius XM Radio, a highly-respected station that tends to steer clear of wild speculation.
They say ’s driver failed to conform to the rule governing the flexibility of its club face when it was tested on Tuesday and the newly-crowned Masters champion had to find a replacement at the eleventh hour.
That could explain his dismal driving display at the USPGA especially during the three-over-par 74 on day one that threatened to derail his title bid.
McIlroy, regarded as the best driver of a ball of his generation – and possibly of all time – hit just four out of 14 fairways in the opening round. And most of his misses were wild ones.
A massive hook on the 16th led to a double bogey. And three more wayward drives were lucky not to end up in the water, otherwise McIlroy might not even have made the cut.
In the end he made it through to the weekend with nothing to spare at one over par after hitting only six fairways in a second round 69.
And he had plenty of time to stew on his problems after a weather delay lasting nearly four hours forced the USPGA into a drastic rethink on the third round tee times.
They switched back to the same formula used for the full field of 156 players in the opening rounds, with the 74 survivors again using both tees, and playing in three-balls.
And with the lowest-placed golfers in the field heading out on the tenth – opposite the leaders on the first tee – McIlroy’s tee time was pushed back from 8.15am local time to 1.38pm.
The driver controversy should not overshadow McIlroy’s achievement in becoming only the sixth player to complete the Grand Slam, with his play-off victory over at .
Experts pointed out that drivers can often conform to the rules one week, and fail them the next week because of constant use – especially for golfers like McIlroy, who have incredibly high launch speeds.
And the difference in drives with non-conforming club faces can be measured in feet, rather than yards.
