‘Legal or illegal’: Rory McIlroy’s PGA Championship driver controversy brought back to light by fans amid his US Open practice

Rory McIlroy's season took a drastic swing during the PGA Championship. He had three wins this season, but he was suddenly called out for using an illegal driver at the PGA Championship. Along with him, 50 other golfers experienced the same problems, which led to them all adopting a backup driver. McIlroy's game has taken a major turn since this alteration.

The 2025 Masters champion finished the PGA Championship tied for 47th place with a total score of 287 (+3). The situation deteriorated further when McIlroy failed to make the cut at the RBC Canadian Open. While he had a solid first round (+1), his second round (+8) put him off course. After this miss, McIlroy was spotted training for the upcoming US Open tournament.

The US Open is the tournament's third major, and it begins on June 12. The Golf Digest's X page posted an update on McIlroy's practice, which read,

"First out on the course this morning."

Under the comments of this post, fans resumed their discussion of the driver controversy. Rory McIlroy's form looked great in the video, prompting one of the fans to inquire whether it is with a legal driver or not. The comment reads:

"Legal or illegal driver?"

Aside from that, one fan claims that McIlroy appears to prefer the driver he is using in the video.

"He seemed to like that one!"

Here are some more fans who had the same idea and were perplexed about whether the golfer was using a legal driver or not:

"Is that driver even legal, or he still cheating?" One fan pointed out.

"Hopefully, he's finally got that new driver dialed in." Another fan stated.

"Driver looks non conforming still," One fan exclaimed.

"He is 100% missing the cut," Another fan predicted about McIlroy's US Open.

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Who is in Rory McIlroy's group for the first round of the US Open?

Rory McIlroy at the RBC Canadian Open - Second Round - Source: Imagn

The 2025 US Open will be held at the Oakmont Country Club. The vast rough will make the course extremely challenging for the golfers. The PGA Tour just unveiled the groups for the tournament's first two rounds, with Rory McIlroy starting at the 10th hole on both days.

Talking about the first round, Rory McIlroy will tee off at 7:40 a.m. alongside Shane Lowry and Justin Rose. Here's a look at all the groups that will tee off at the 10th hole during the first round of the tournament:

10th hole

• 6:45 a.m. - Zac Blair, Scott Vincent, Alistair Docherty
• 6:56 a.m. - Jacques Kruyswijk, Jordan Smith, Eric Cole
• 7:07 a.m. - Tom Kim, JJ Spaun, Taylor Pendrith
• 7:18 a.m. - Ludvig Åberg, Adam Scott, Hideki Matsuyama
• 7:29 a.m. - Ben Griffin, Andrew Novak, Maverick McNealy.
• 7:40 a.m. - Shane Lowry, Justin Rose, Rory McIlroy
• 7:51 a.m. - Patrick Cantlay, Si Woo Kim, Lucas Glover
• 8:02 a.m. - Cameron Smith, Brian Harman, Phil Mickelson
• 8:13 a.m. - Niklas Norgaard, Brian Campbell, Justin Lower
• 8:24 a.m. - Davis Riley, Jackson Koivun (a), Johnny Keefer
• 8:35 a.m. - James Hahn, Mark Hubbard, Michael La Sasso (a)
• 8:46 a.m. - Joakim Lagergren, Mason Howell (a), Chris Gotterup
• 8:57 a.m. - Zach Bauchou, Jackson Buchanan, Lance Simpson (a)
• 12:30 p.m. - Will Chandler, Andrea Pavan, Takumi Kanaya
• 12:41 p.m. - Bryan Lee (a), Guido Migliozzi, Preston Summerhays
• 12:52 p.m. - Erik van Rooyen, Max Greyserman, Matt Wallace
• 1:03 p.m. - Russell Henley, Christiaan Bezuidenhout, Nick Taylor
• 1:14 p.m. - Jordan Spieth, Jon Rahm, Dustin Johnson.
• 1:25 p.m. - Tyrrell Hatton, Sungjae Im, Sepp Straka
• 1:36 p.m. - Cameron Young; Tom Hoge, J.T. Poston
• 1:47 p.m. - Jhonattan Vegas, Michael Kim, Matthieu Pavon
• 1:58 p.m. - Marc Leishman, Aaron Rai, Nick Dunlap
• 2:09 p.m. - Matthew Jordan, Yuta Sugiura, Carlos Ortiz
• 2:20 p.m. - Ryan McCormick, Trevor Cone, Zach Pollo (a)
• 2:31 p.m. - James Nicholas, Tyler Weaver (a), Riki Kawamoto
• 2:42 p.m. - Austen Truslow, Harrison Ott, George Duangmanee