Lucas Glover Calls For Universal Inspections At Majors

During the PGA Championship, as Scheffler was setting up his victory, there was an unspecified number of players had their golf clubs inspected.  The test was pretty standard and essentially told the players in question that it was time to replace their clubs.  Rory McIlroy had his beloved TaylorMade driver go through this test and found out it had to be replaced.  It was all standard and routine, but golfer Lucas Glover noticed something that started grinding his gears.  With the event being a major, golfers from other tours were present and playing, but only the PGA players went through that inspection.  With that realization, Lucas Glover is calling for all players to get these inspections at events.

Lucas Glover Outspoken Critic

This is far from the first time Glover called for change to happen across the sport.  He often calls the governing bodies specifically to make these changes.  Glover has weighed in on the slow-play issue, even laying out a plan to help quicken the pace of play.  He is also a major critic of the Aim Point putting method.  A method used to read slopes on the green that is criticised for slowing down the game.

Glover On The Inspections

While on the PGA Tour Radio show, Glover called out the disparity between the tours.  His argument is essentially that the PGA players are held to a higher standard than, say, someone playing from the DP World Tour or players from LIV Golf.  A player from any other league could easily bring in a noncompliant club, and everyone would be none the wiser.  Whether or not it is in the player’s favor is another question entirely.

Glover’s argument goes as this: “We should all be held under the same rules at all four events.”  Glover goes on to clarify.  “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 organizations 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 under the same rules.”  

New Rules Needed?

Considering that it is only the PGA players who get these inspections, this should be applied across the whole event.  The test that made headlines is an effective one that catches bad clubs before things go wrong.  Yet, as Glover pointed out, only the PGA players go through it.  The driver test in question only happens because it’s the PGA that invites the testers in.  That was confirmed by a PGA Tour Radio reporter.  

Looking at other sporting events, like the Olympics, the whole event is flooded by tests to ensure everyone is on an even playing field.  There are videos floating around of athletes going through a post-match interview and about to go into a drug test.  It is just strange that the majors don’t have universal tests between the visiting tours.  Glover is right, it is time to correct that.