Turns out, it wasn’t just Rory McIlroy who failed a driver test earlier this week at Quail Hollow. The eventual PGA champion did, too.
Scottie Scheffler confirmed that his driver also was deemed non-conforming by the USGA, which conducts the testing for the PGA of America, before teeing it up in the 107th PGA Championship. Scheffler’s fellow competitor Xander Schauffele first told reporters of Scheffler’s failed test earlier in the day.
“The driver testing is something that regularly happens on Tour,” Scheffler said Sunday evening after his five-shot victory. “My driver did fail me this week. We had a feeling that it was going to be coming because I’ve used that driver for over a year. I was kind of fortunate for it to last that long, I felt like.”
Modern drivers get hotter the more they are hit, which leads to the faces of older drivers thinning and eventually failing the characteristic time test, which measures the spring-like effect of the club. The PGA Tour has been testing drivers at its events since the 2019-20 season, though doesn’t test every driver, every week.
Scheffler said he and TaylorMade were “really well prepared” for when his older driver ultimately became non-conforming. With his replacement, he ranked fifth in strokes gained off the tee this week, though he did struggle in Sunday’s final round, hitting just six of 14 fairways.
“No, I think that was my fault,” Scheffler said with a big laugh when asked in that inaccuracy was due to the new equipment.
More seriously, Scheffler, like Schauffele did hours before him, criticized the randomness of the testing.
“I would argue that if we’re going to test the drivers, we need to be even more robust in the way we test them,” Scheffler said. “That was a conversation I had with one of the rules officials; if it’s something we’re going to take seriously, I feel like we’re almost going halfway with it right now. If we’re going to test only a third of the field, if we’re going to do it right, leave it up to us as players, like the rest of the rules in the game of golf are.
“It’s a newer rule that we haven’t quite gotten right yet. I think we have some stuff to figure out. I think, if we’re going to do it, we might as well do it right, get more robust and get even more strict. You can test guys every week, if you want. I mean, there’s no reason why we shouldn’t.”
