Rory McIlroy's "Non-Conforming" Driver Had to Be Replaced on the PGA Tour After an Inspection

Who knew that golf had so many rules when it comes to professional tournaments? Well, maybe longtime fans of the sport are a little more up to date than others about what flies and what doesn't, but some were still a little surprised about pro golfer Rory McIlroy's issue with his driver and what happened at the PGA Championship. It turns out, however, that the information about his driver was never meant to be released with his name attached to it.

According to NBC Sports, McIlroy admitted to the media that he had an issue with the driver he planned to use on the course. But he was mostly upset that his name and not the name of another golfer who also had to switch out his driver was made public. He shared with the press, according to the outlet, that the information about his driver issue was not supposed to be leaked with his name.

NBC Sports reported that, after days of skirting the topic and not speaking on what happened with his driver, he finally answered questions about it. McIlroy explained that he just hadn't been able to find the time to properly talk about his driver, and the fact that a test run from the United States Golf Association (USGA) found it to be "non-conforming." Fellow golfer Scottie Scheffler was also named. McIlroy had to replace his driver, and he had hoped not to have to speak on it publicly.

"I'm trying to protect Scottie [Scheffler]. I didn't want to mention his name," McIlroy explained. Scheffler was the other player whose driver failed the USGA test. "I'm trying to protect TaylorMade. I'm trying to protect the USGA, PGA of America, myself. I just didn't want to get up there and say something that I regretted at the time."

As a result of the failed driver test and of McIlroy's driver being declared non-conforming, he had to replace it with a different one for the tournament. It's not unheard of for different golf clubs to be tested and examined to ensure they are up to standard. But in McIlroy's case, the bigger issue was that he did not believe his name would be leaked with that information.

Per the USGA, a non-conforming driver is one that fails an inspection. The inspection includes looking at its length, groove dimensions, and spring effect. The latter is in reference to the energy the club exerts when it actually hits the gold ball. The head of the driver could also be larger than is allowed by the tournament's guidelines. However, it's not necessarily about trying to pull a fast one.

According to Sky Sports, non-conforming drivers can also be classified as such because of the wear and tear on the head from frequent use. The PGA of America released a statement, per the outlet, to explain how non-conforming drivers are determined.

"Finding driver heads that have crept over the line of conformance is not an unusual occurrence, especially for clubs that are hit thousands of times over a long period of time," the statement said. "The results are kept confidential to protect players, who are unaware the club has fallen out of conformance and not responsible for it falling out of conformance other than hitting the club thousands of times."