Rory McIlroy Reportedly Forced to Use Backup Driver at PGA Championship

Rory McIlroy had to adapt quickly ahead of the PGA Championship.

The 36-year-old has had to use his backup driver at the event after his regular driver was ruled "nonconforming," per ESPN.

McIlroy made the cut but currently sits tied for 62nd at plus-one. He shot a 74 in Thursday's round but rebounded well with a 69 in the second round to stay alive heading into the weekend.

This is his first major since winning the Master's in April. He finished tied for 12th at the Zurich Classic in late April and then tied for seventh at the Truist Championship last week.

His new driver has not been beneficial to him so far as he has only hit 10 fairways thus far. He was just 4-of-14 on hitting fairways on Thursday and was only marginally better on Friday.

This has made the Northern Irishman have tougher starts to holes and given him less opportunties at birdies and eagles. He sank two birdies on Thursday and had five on Friday. He has bogeyed or double-bogeyed nine holes throughout the first two rounds.

He will look to gain further confidence with the backup crowd as he attempts to climb up the leaderboard. He is currently nine shots behind the current leader, Jhonattan Vegas, and will tee off at 8:25 a.m. on Saturday.