3x PGA Tour winner defends Rory McIlroy amid driver controversy at PGA Championship

Three-time PGA Tour winner Johnson Wagner defended Rory McIlroy amid driver controversy at the PGA Championship. McIlroy is playing at the PGA Championship this week, and before the tournament, the USGA deemed the golfer's gamer driver non-conforming on Tuesday, May 13.

Following that, Rory McIlroy changed drivers before the opening round. Recently, Wagner joined the SiriusXM podcast and took a stand for McIlroy's driver controversy.

“So the USGA conducts these tests pretty much every week here on professional golf, and they test it across all aspects of the face of the driver. Drivers fail all the time, every single week. Somebody's driver fails, it's by no fault of the player. They don't know how to do it, as it is a sophisticated testing system. When you're a player like Rory McIlroy who hits the ball as hard as he does, the face naturally thins out,” he said.

“It’s unfortunate that it happened in the week of the major. Maybe cost him a few shots yesterday, but he seems to have it figured out today. He did nothing wrong,” Wagner added.

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McIlroy, who finished playing two rounds of the PGA Championship, is sitting at T62. The Northern Irishman will play the third round on Saturday, May 17.

When will Rory McIlroy tee off for the third round of the PGA Championship?

Rory McIlroy will tee off for the third round of the PGA Championship with Xander Schauffele at 8:25 am. Next to them, Michael Kim and Chris Kirk will start at 8:35 am, and David Puig and Bud Cauley will play at 8:45 am. Johnattan Vegas and Matthieu Pavon are the last group to start at 2:45 pm.

Here's a full list of tee times and pairings for the third round of the PGA Championship:

Tee No. 1

8:15 a.m. → Max Greyserman, Sam Burns

8:25 a.m. → Rory McIlroy, Xander Schauffele

8:35 a.m. → Michael Kim, Chris Kirk

8:45 a.m. → David Puig, Bud Cauley

8:55 a.m. → Elvis Smylie, Kevin Yu

9:05 a.m. → Sergio Garcia, Brian Harman

9:15 a.m. → Justin Lower, Tom Kim

9:25 a.m. → Thorbjørn Olesen, Maverick McNealy

9:35 a.m. → Stephan Jaeger, Rasmus Højgaard

9:45 a.m. → Nico Echavarria, Harris English

9:55 a.m. → Brian Campbell, Taylor Moore

10:15 a.m. → Cameron Young, Daniel Berger

10:25 a.m. → Byeong Hun An, Collin Morikawa

10:35 a.m. → Harry Hall, Austin Eckroat

10:45 a.m. → Corey Conners, Nicolai Højgaard

10:55 a.m. → Beau Hossler, Luke Donald

11:05 a.m. → Matt Wallace, Tom McKibbin

11:15 a.m. → Wyndham Clark, Rafael Campos

11:25 a.m. → Joaquin Niemann, Tyrrell Hatton

11:35 a.m. → Marco Penge, Lucas Glover

11:45 a.m. → Jon Rahm, Keegan Bradley

11:55 a.m. → Viktor Hovland, Tommy Fleetwood

12:15 p.m. → Adam Scott, Joe Highsmith

12:25 p.m. → Eric Cole, Cam Davis

12:35 p.m. → Tony Finau, Ben Griffin

12:45 p.m. → Alex Noren, Ryo Hisatsune

12:55 p.m. → Richard Bland, Davis Riley

1:05 p.m. → Taylor Pendrith, Bryson DeChambeau

1:15 p.m. → J.J. Spaun, Aaron Rai

1:25 p.m. → Ryan Gerard, Garrick Higgo

1:35 p.m. → Sam Stevens, Denny McCarthy

1:45 p.m. → J.T. Poston, Robert MacIntyre

2:05 p.m. → Ryan Fox, Alex Smalley

2:15 p.m. → Michael Thorbjornsen, Christiaan Bezuidenhout

2:25 p.m. → Max Homa, Scottie Scheffler

2:35 p.m. → Matt Fitzpatrick, Si Woo Kim

2:45 p.m. → Jhonattan Vegas, Matthieu Pavon

( All times in ET)

About the author

Suchita Chakraborty is a senior golf writer at Sportskeeda. She did her post-graduation at St. Xavier's University. For a year now, she has developed a riveting inclination toward golf, with Tiger Woods and Rory McIlroy being her top-tier motivational figures to indulge in the sport. She even lives by the words of the Hall of Famer, "You can always become better", which impels her to excel every day. Her strong suit in golf is covering the LPGA Tour, especially the nooks and crannies of the international event, the Solheim Cup. As a pastime amusement, Suchita also engages herself in reading about golf controversies. Her favorite pick is ‘LIV and Let Die’ by Alan Shipnuck, which covers the PGA-LIV beef.

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Edited by Samya Majumdar