Scottie Scheffler has a new driver in the bag at the Hero World Challenge, and there’s a smart reason why
The Hero World Challenge is sometimes chastised as “not a real event.” Don’t tell that to World No. 1 Scottie Scheffler, the two-time defending champion who is using the competition as a proving ground for a new TaylorMade driver.
From photos on Getty Images, that driver would be an 8-degree TaylorMade Qi4D, a club that while not at retail, recently hit the USGA conforming list and has been used in competition by Rory McIlroy and Tommy Fleetwood. As for Scheffler, getting four competitive rounds in with the club is key.
“Testing things out in competition is a good way of kind of seeing where you’re at,” he said on Wednesday. “You can simulate competition at home, but coming out here and playing stroke play is always a bit different over the course of four days. I find this week to be pretty valuable.”
The photos reveal the club features a pair of weights on the sole, what appears to be one of the company’s “speed pockets” and a blue-colored face that fits Scheffler’s eye.
“This driver’s been a really good fit for my eye and that’s always the first test for me,” Scheffler said. “So far the performance has been good, my spin numbers have been really consistent, ball flight’s been consistent and looking forward to getting it in competition.”
The driver replaces the Qi10 that was in Scheffler’s bag—a club he won two majors and six PGA Tour events with this past season. Interestingly, he did not put the company’s more recent Qi35 in play.
“I had a little bit of trouble getting into the Qi35 and I feel like we learned a lot throughout that process of what I like to see in a driver, the way it needs to perform for me specifically,” said Scheffler said. “Going into this year I feel like the whole team at TaylorMade had a really good idea of what my eyes needed to see in order for the driver to be able to work. We went through a lot of different options for what the face needed to be specifically for me and felt like we’re in a good spot, and then the testing was a lot simpler this time around for sure.”
The real test, however, comes this weekend.
