The South Korean Jenny Shin was at her peak when she won the 2006 U.S. Girls Junior at a mere age of 13 years old. She holds the record of being the youngest amateur to win an amateur tournament. But as she stepped into adulthood, the LPGA Star kept struggling to win an LPGA Tour event. After turning pro in 2010, it took her six years of grinding and hard work to get her first LPGA Title, the 2016 Volunteers of America Texas Shootout, held in Irving, Texas. Still it remains her one and only LPGA win. However, she has about 44 top 10 finishes in her career. But if you have closely observed her performance in 2025, you could see a drastic decline from her form in 2024. Probably wondering why, Let’s take a look.
At the 2024 British Open, Shin was subjected to a driver confirming test. Unfortunately, her driver, which she had been using for almost four years, was deemed unfit and non-conforming. As a professional golfer, she had developed a personal relationship with her driver, sharing moments of success and failure together. But the test meant she had to bid farewell to the old Driver and had to use a backup. Even though she had to use a backup driver, she finished the British Open in 19th place. But her performances after the Open took a heavy hit. In her recent tweet, Shin confessed the issue that she was facing, “Since then, I couldn’t find a driver that could replicate my original driver. Somehow it just didn’t click. Sure enough, my accuracy went down and I kept missing fairways”. It was not until the Meijer LPGA Classic that she realised it’s not her swing but the driver, that is the reason behind her poor performances. This is not the first time that golfers have had to go for a backup driver due to failed tests.
After his most anticipated career grand slam victory at the Masters, Rory McIlroy went on to play the PGA Championship at Quail Hollow. But before teeing off, he had to go through a driver conformity test. Sadly, the cards were turned against McIlroy as his driver failed the test. The Champion who won four times at the Quail Hollow Golf course stood out in the top 40 ranks after the final round. These incidents indicate that the randomness of these tests is not doing any good to the players.
Rory’s driver deemed non-conforming by USGA – is his new driver hurting his game?
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— The Second Cut (@TheSecondCutPod) May 17, 2025
Former U.S Open Champion Lukas Glover has openly criticized the CT Protocol on SiriusXM PGA Tour Radio’s show with Taylor Zarzour. He said that the test is problematic and the format needs to be changed. As of now, one-third of the field is called randomly to test their drivers. This takes away the principle of equality among the players. When some can use their preferred drivers, some are forced to use their backups. “I came to the realization that we’re not all playing under the same umbrella at these majors unless we did test everybody,” said Glover in the radio programme. However, despite of being an advantage of failing the driver test, Scottie Scheffler had the last laugh at the PGA Championship 2025.
Scottie Scheffler wins the 2025 PGA Championship
A year ago, Scottie Scheffler was thrown into the back of a squad van accused of multiple crimes that involved second-degree assault, third-degree criminal mischief, reckless driving, and disregarding signals from an officer directing traffic. As the second round teed off, Scheffler spent his time in the jail cell. He was released after two weeks. However, the humiliation he faced hit him hard. Even though he had a slow start in 2025, he had his dignity at stake in the PGA Championship.
He faced several challenges, like failing the conformity test. But he played the game with an unwavering, stubborn heart set on winning the title. Every challenge appeared small to the World No.1 as his dignity was on the line. He teed off the championship with a great round 1, carding four birdies and one eagle to finish at 68(-2). With every clap of hands, Scheffler’s performance got better and better. In round 2, he gave a consistent performance, making four birdies at the 3rd, 8th, 14th, and 15th holes.
On the third round, he played like it was the last tournament ever, making seven birdies and one eagle to finish at 65(-6). In the final round at Quail Hollow, he carded four birdies, ending the round with a bogey to finish at 71, even par. He was five strokes ahead of Bryson DeChambeau, Harris English, and Davis Riley. Nothing triggers a man more than hurting his ego. Scheffler answered his haters not through his words, but by setting an example through his actions.
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