Is Rory McIlroy going to get stripped of his Green Jacket? That’s what his haters want, as they raised their voices after the reports stating that his driver was “non-conforming” for the 2025 PGA Championship. The Northern Irishman was in outstanding form at ANGC, and his win was backed with tremendous stats. McIlroy had a great putting average, covered a lot of distance through his drives, and was amazing with his irons. He pulled off some great saves from roughs and bunkers to give himself a lot of advantage. Although one thing where he didn’t find much success was his driving accuracy.
While many of the top golfers hit the fairway consistently, the winner of the tournament actually had very bad statistics off the tee. He only managed to land on the fairway 35 out of 56 times. McIlroy had a 62.5% accuracy with his driver. And that same driver was the one rejected at Quail Hollow recently. A change in his driver saw McIlroy go from 62.5% accuracy at the Masters to a 35.51% average in the two rounds of the 2025 PGA Championship. The Irishman has only hit the fairway 10 out of the 28 opportunities he has received so far.
Moreover, fans started accusing McIlroy of cheating at Augusta. They called for the PGA Tour to strip him of the Green Jacket. To clear the air, the Rory Tracker Instagram account shared a video of a conversation between Taylor Zarzour & Johnson Wagner. They confirmed that McIlroy wasn’t able to use his driver this week. Speaking of why the USGA took this decision, they said, “It was deemed to be no longer permissible. Whether it was cracked or something had happened to the head… Rory (was) unable to use that driver and switched drivers yesterday, only at the fourth fairway.”
Apparently, while McIlroy’s driver was fit for use in the last few PGA Tour events, including the Truist Championship, it wasn’t in a good enough condition to be played with at Quail Hollow. Speaking about the tests conducted by the USGA to claim that the driver of “non-conforming,” they stated that the testing results are confidential, and it’s up to the player if he wishes to reveal them or not.
Wagner confirmed, “The USGA conducts these tests pretty much every week here on professional golf. They test it across all aspects of the face of the driver. Drivers fail all the time. Every single week, somebody’s driver fails. It is by no fault of the player,” taking the blame off McIlroy. Drivers do experience wear and tear as well. It shouldn’t come as a surprise that professional golfers break or damage their drivers after they have hit thousands of golf balls every week.
The golf expert from ESPN revealed that the face of the driver naturally thins out as you consistently play with it. It wears out even quicker when players with high swing speed, like Rory McIlroy, hit it often. Having said that, there is certainly a huge difference in McIlroy’s performance in the last major compared to this week. But is it only because of the change in driver?
The report on Rory’s driver pic.twitter.com/SvnkL6G4Oq
— Rory Tracker (@RoryTrackr) May 16, 2025
There is definitely more to it than playing with a new driver. Rory McIlroy’s recent statements might give us a hint about that.
Rory McIlroy is driving in a different mood
Changing your driver mid-way through a round would have a considerable effect on anyone’s strokeplay. Rory McIlroy is no different, even if he has been the best player off the tee this season. The dip in form should have been expected going into the remained of the tournament. However, there is another factor that might have also impacted the Irishman’s form at Quail Hollow.
Reports had come in that McIlroy got buzzed during Xander Schauffele‘s Champions Dinner on the Tuesday of the 2025 PGA Championship. That was also the reason he was more straightforward during the Press Conference preceding the major. McIlroy’s approach towards the major event after his Grand Slam win has made experts think that the 36-year-old has taken his foot off the accelerator.
While fans might love the fact that their favorite golfer is relieved of years of stress, his approach to competitive golf might now excite them that much. Especially if he is not even able to find the fairway as consistently as he did in April 2025.
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