Major champ makes astonishing ‘cheat’ claim about PGA Tour pros as driver controversy rumbles on

Lucas Glover was not holding back when asked about his thoughts on the recent driver testing drama at the PGA Championship…

After the euphoric highs at Augusta, the 107th PGA Championship threatened to be a rather damp squib. (Quite literally in the case of the weather at Quail Hollow that week.)

That was until news broke that Rory McIlroy had been asked to swap out his driver which had become “non-conforming” in the build-up to the event.

It sparked an unsavoury debate about how driver testing is conducted at the highest level, with Xander Schauffele dragging Scottie Scheffler into the mix before the eventual champion used his winner’s press conference to demand a change in the rules.

Lucas Glover, though, is holding nothing back in his feelings on the matter.

Speaking on his SiriusXM PGA Tour Radio show, the 2009 US Open champ claimed the testing is not strict enough – and that allows players to cheat the system.

When co-host Taylor Zarzour asked why there aren’t more tests than the current 30 a week on the PGA Tour, Glover was very deliberate in his reply.

“I’ve been trying to think all morning and all day how to say this without sounding like it’s going to sound, but most guys don’t give them their real driver anyway,” he said, before clarifying that “they give them their backup just in case.”

He added: “I know a lot of guys [who] keep two drivers in their bag just in case. ‘Hey, oh, yeah, it’s this one. It’s this one right here. Yeah, do this, test this one.’”

It’s quite the accusation to make of a fellow pro, but Glover has seemingly had enough.

“I came to the realization that we’re not all playing under the same umbrella at these majors unless we did test everybody,” he continued.

“We’ve got LIV guys, we’ve got other tour guys, we’ve got tons of different players and tours being represented at the four biggest tournaments of the year. So why doesn’t everybody get tested at every major? And why don’t we somehow try to make sure it’s the driver being used?

“If that costs ‘X’ amount of dollars, great. Let’s do it. All these organisations have got plenty. Look at the tents they build every week.

“If we’re going be on an equal playing field and the four biggest events are going to bring all these people and all these tours together, let’s make sure we’re playing under the same rules.”

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Another reason Glover is so determined for more testing to be carried out at tour events is because no two drivers are exactly the same.

“I was told a long time ago, golf clubs are actually like snowflakes,” he explained. “They may read the same. They may look the same. They may fall the same way out of the sky. They may build them the exact same in the trailer, but they’re snowflakes.

“There is nothing identical. To the point where, even the backups I travel with, I know it is not as good. If it was as good or better, I’d be hitting it.”

For what its worth, Glover’s driver was tested at the PGA Championship, and it was “fine”.

“I don’t hit it far enough to thin a face out any more,” he added.

But had it failed, Glover said he would have been “devastated” – so he did feel some sympathy for McIlroy having to put what is essentially a new gamer in the bag on the eve of a major.

“I said, ‘Wow, that stinks for him.’ You’ve got to drive it really, really, really well [at Quail Hollow],” he explained. “And, obviously, coming off the Masters and coming off playing great all winter, all spring, and you got to do that? Man, that’s tough.”

Grand Slam champion McIlroy had a miserable week off the tee and finished 14 shots behind Scheffler in a tie for 47th.

Why is a non-conforming driver beneficial to players?

The USGA and R&A set all of the rules and parameters around golf equipment, and carry out random spot-checks of around 30 drivers per tournament to ensure they conform to the required limits.

Drivers can become non-conforming when the coefficient of restitution – or COR – is compromised.

In layman’s terms, the driver has become so worn by the constant battering of 125 mile-an-hour swing speeds that the face becomes more springy and sends the ball even further – beyond what the rules permit.