Scottie Scheffler makes surprising equipment change at American Express

It appears Scottie Scheffler isn't quite ready to change into TaylorMade's new driver. 

The reigning world number one decided to put the brand's new Qi4D into his bag for the Hero World Challenge in December. 

And the 30-year-old was expected to use it on his first PGA Tour start of the calendar year at The American Express in California. 

But during Thursday's first round he was spotted using his trusty old TaylorMade Qi10, which has been in his bag since the beginning of 2024.

He used it en route to clinching six individual titles last season, including major wins at the PGA Championship and The Open. 

It was a surprising change for Scheffler given he spoke favourably of the latest release last month. 

Like world number two Rory McIlroy, Scheffler didn't appear to get on with the Qi35. 

McIlroy is already using the Qi4D. As are fellow TaylorMade staffers Collin Morikawa, Tommy Fleetwood, Charley Hull and Nelly Korda. 

Speaking exclusively to GolfMagic earlier in the month, TaylorMade's director of product creation, Andrew Oldknow, revealed McIlroy only hit the club three or four times before declaring it was better than his current gamer. 

"He just turned around and said, 'we can go to lunch now because this is better than my driver,'" he said. 

Scheffler told media last month: "Yeah, for me so far this driver's been a really good fit for my eye and that's always the first test for me.

"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.

"So last year 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.

"Going into this year I feel like Adrian [Rietveld, his fitter] and the whole team at TaylorMade had a really good kind of 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 kind of 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."

Scheffler carded a nine-under 63 in the first round of The American Express at La Quinta Golf Club in California. 

He showed some rust, particularly on the back nine, but is already the odds-on favourite to capture his 20th PGA Tour title over the weekend. 

GolfMagic's new equipment editor, Georgina Black, has already tested the entire Qi4D range.  

You can read her full review of the driver here. 

Or watch her ULTIMATE guide to the new Qi4D range on YouTube.