Rory McIlroy Among 50 Players Who Had Drivers Tested Before PGA Championship

About 50 players including Rory McIlroy had their drivers tested ahead of the 2025 PGA Championship, according to a statement from a PGA of America representative.

Kerry Haigh, chief championships officer for the PGA of America, said in a statement shared by Golf Digest's Ryan Herrington that USGA was requested to test "about a third of the field" ahead of the 156-golfer tournament in Quail Hollow.

“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,” Haigh said.

Haigh continued, “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. Players are simply asked to change heads if necessary, and all do without issue.

"To publicly identify players whose club did not conform can lead to that player being questioned unnecessarily. Neither the USGA nor the PGA of America have any concerns about player intent."

Sirius XM PGA Championship Radio's Jason Sobel reported on Friday that McIlroy's driver had been "deemed non-conforming by the USGA on Tuesday," leading McIlroy to change out the club ahead of Thursday's Round 1.

These random tests have been the subject of criticism in the past. Xander Schauffele, who was previously forced to change out his driver at the 2019 British Open after a compliance test, said at the time he considered it "a little bit unfair" that the R&A had only tested 30 drivers from the 130-player field.

The USGA and R&A generally use Characteristic Time (CT) test, which measures the flexibility of the face of a driver, per Golf Digest's Joel Beall.

The organizations are looking for "CT creep," or when the face of the driver becomes more flexible due to frequent use, according to Beall. According to the AP's Doug Ferguson, CT creep typically begins occurring after 5,000 swings.

McIlroy did not speak to the media after either the first or second round, Ferguson noted. After shooting an underwhelming 3-over 74 to finish tied for 92nd place after Round 1, he went two-under 69 on Friday to make the cut.

Golf.com's Sean Zak noted that McIlroy entered the tournament with what appeared to be a less well-used TaylorMade Qi10 driver head as opposed to the model he used the week prior.

McIlroy hit 10 of 28 fairways while ranking 35th in strokes gained off the tee through two rounds, per NBC Sports' Rex Hoggard.