Xander Schauffele has opened up on his feelings on driver testing ahead of the Memorial Tournament.
Schauffele has experienced a tough start to the season, after missing two months earlier on in the year due to an intercostal strain and a cartilage tear.
However, he seems to be slowly clicking into gear, with a win surely not too far away.
Schauffele admitted that he found it hard watching Rory McIlroy and Scottie Scheffler perform well whilst he was out injured.
However, he will be fully aware that when he’s on his game he is more than capable of competing with Scheffler and McIlroy.
In fact, McIlroy has experienced a really difficult past few weeks.
The Northern Irishman was on cloud nine after winning The Masters in April.
However, the narrative has completely switched since then. McIlroy endured a difficult PGA Championship after his driver was deemed to be non-conforming.
The same thing happened to Scheffler as well, but the American handled the setback much better than the Masters champion.
Xander Schauffele shares two changes he wants to see after Rory McIlroy’s driver incident
McIlroy clearly wasn’t happy with the situation that led to his driver being deemed as non-conforming.
He didn’t speak to the press once after that at Quail Hollow, and then McIlroy pulled out of the Memorial Tournament without even informing host Jack Nicklaus of his decision.
Now Schauffele has weighed into the debate on driver testing.
The 31-year-old has suggested two specific changes should be made to the way that golf’s governing bodies test drivers.
He said, “I would test everyone, and make sure I get everyone’s serial number of their driver, pretty easy. It just depends if you want anyone playing with a hot one or not, pretty simple.
“It really is normal, I didn’t even understand the public’s negative opinion on it. One, we hit our drivers a lot, so like they creep and then they go over a line, but we don’t know, we have no clue, unless our driver physically cracks and we start hitting knuckle-balls off the tee, then we know our driver is broken. It’s not like you’re going to be a guy who has a 170 ball speed then all of a sudden your driver is hot and you have like 185, it’s just not how golf works. You either swing hard and hit it hard or you don’t.
“The trickiest part is that no driver is the same and no shaft is the same. The makeup of each head and shaft is slightly different. You have a trusty club and then you take it out and switch it. So as soon as you make us change, there has to be a period where you get used to it. But by no means do I think there are players out there trying to play with a hot driver.
“The whole problem is that when your driver is hot, it will break soon after that.“
What Lucas Glover said about driver testing after McIlroy incident
Glover wants all players to be held under the same rules when it comes to driver testing.
The American spoke to the press last week, and made his feelings on the matter very clear indeed.
He said, “We’re not all playing under the same umbrella at these majors, unless we did test everybody. So we got LIV guys, we got other tour guys, we 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. We should all be held under the same rules at all four events. Everybody should be tested for equality, if we’re going to have all of these tours and all of these people coming together. So let’s test drivers, let’s test lies on putters, let’s drug test, let’s test everything to make sure everybody is on the same page. If that costs X amount of dollars, great, let’s do it. These organisations have got plenty, look at the tents they build every week. If we’re going to be on an equal playing field, let’s make sure we’re playing under the same rules.”
Glover is spot on, and Schauffele echoed exactly the same sentiment when speaking to reporters on Wednesday.
Something has to be done quickly by the USGA and the R&A in order to maintain fair competition and a level playing field.
Receive exclusive golf news and updates twice a week to your mailbox
