Rory McIlroy Forced to Change Driver Day Before PGA Championship

In the first round of the PGA Championship the second betting favorite behind world No. 1 Scottie Scheffler, Rory McIlroy, fired a 3-over, 74 to sit 10 shots off the lead.

McIlroy, who is known as one of the best drivers of the golf ball in the sport, managed to find just four fairways en route to the brutal score. As it turns out, there may be a reason for his lack of success with the driver on Thursday.

According to a new report from PGA Tour SiriusXM Radio’s Taylor Zarzour, the driver McIlroy planned to use in the tournament was deemed "no longer permissible" and he was not allowed to use it. The five-time major champion was forced to switch drivers the day before the tournament kicked off, leading to his 3-over, 74. 

Analyst and former professional golfer Johnson Wagner revealed details of the testing.

"The USGA conducts these tests pretty much every week out 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 and it is by no fault of the player, they don't know how to do it - it is a sophisticated testing system," Wagner said. 

"And when you're a player like Rory McIlroy that hits the ball as hard as he does the face naturally thins out...It's unfortunate that it happened the weekend of a major and that it maybe cost him a few shots yesterday...he did nothing wrong."

"This is something that happens week to week on the PGA TOUR."

Johnson Wagner came to Rory McIlroy's defense after his driver was deemed non-conforming by the USGA.

🔊: https://t.co/pvtPYG1S8q@TitansTZ | @johnson_wagner | @SiriusXMSports pic.twitter.com/3sOk2jcpqc

— PGA Championship Radio on SiriusXM (@SiriusXMPGATOUR) May 16, 2025

After getting used to his new driver, McIlroy stormed out of the gates in his second round with four birdies in his first 10 holes to move to 1-under for the tournament and just seven shots off the lead. He struggled over the next eight holes, though, carding four bogeys and two birdies to go along with two pars to finish with a 2-under, 69 on the day to move to 1-over for the tournament.

McIlroy made the cut on the number and starts nine shots back of the lead held by Jhonattan Vegas.

Related: Rory McIlroy Sends Strong Message to Wife Erica Before PGA Championship