"PGA protecting Rory McIlroy" - Fans react as PGA of America delivers stance on the 5x Major winner's driver incident

Rory McIlroy recently suffered a setback after he had to switch his driver following pre-tournament checks. The Professional Golfer's Association of America addressed the matter, which led to fans delivering their reactions to the organization's stance.

USGA ran a routine check on the Northern Irishman's equipment, and his primary driver was reportedly ruled to be non-conforming. McIlroy was compelled to retire his TaylorMade Qi10 driver as it exceeded the allowed COR limits, possibly due to his powerful swing. The PGA released a statement later on, claiming that it was not a rare incident.

According to the statement, drivers subjected to regular wear and tear can exceed elasticity limits. NUCLR Golf shared the full statement via a post on X (previously Twitter):

"...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... 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."

Fans reacted to the PGA of America's statement issued regarding this incident. A section of fans claimed that the body was guarding five-time major champion Rory McIlroy from this mishap. Take a look at some of the comments:

"PGA protecting Rory McIlroy!!" a fan wrote in the comment section.

"So, as long as the @PGA tells us he didn’t do it intentionally, then we are supposed to just take their word for it? This line of reasoning doesn’t work for Olympic athletes, or professional tennis players for that matter," another fan wrote.

"PGA and the media lining up to glaze their boy Rory...media immediately defending him saying "business as usual". 🤣 Imagine if it were Bryson?" another fan wrote.

"Lengthy excuse cause they received all the backlash for Rory’s cheating", a fan typed in the comments.

"Wouldn't make this statement if it was anyone else but the poster boy," a fan hinted at Rory McIlroy.

Meanwhile, Rory McIlroy finds himself in T50th position at the PGA Championship as of this writing.

Rory McIlroy gets defended by 3x PGA Tour winner amid backlash

Some fans criticized Rory McIlroy following USGA forcing him to swap to his backup driver. Some of them even questioned his 2025 Masters win. Amid all the negativity, the Northern Irishman was backed by Johnson Wagner.

The three-time PGA Tour winner hopped on PGA Championship Radio on SiriusXM and took a firm stand backing McIlroy.

"USGA conducts these tests pretty much every week here on professional golf... 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."

He further emphasized on Rory’s swing power, which might have caused the driver head to go through great extent of wear and tear, hence affecting COR.

"When you're a player like Rory McIlroy who hits the ball as hard as he does, the face naturally thins out. 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."

McIlroy's driving accuracy faced a sharp decline following the driver swap. After 36 holes, the PGA Tour veteran ranked 152nd in driving accuracy, hitting only 36% of the fairways.