Rory McIlroy dazzles with his putter at Quail Hollow

Rory McIlroy made it into the winner’s circle of two major championships and to the top of the world rankings a while back largely on the strength of his length off the tee and the way he pummeled Congressional Country Club and Kiawah Island into submission.

Two years ago -- before The Troubles of 2013 -- when McIlroy won his second major title and earned Player of the Year plaudits, he was fifth in driving distance at 310 yards. Even during a miserable 12 months that began after he changed equipment a year ago January, the Ulsterman was still No. 8 off the tee at 302 yards.

“You work off your strengths in this game, it’s the foundation of the game, and for me that’s driving the golf ball,” McIlroy told reporters Wednesday before opening the next day with a 3-under 69. “I drove the golf ball not very well for the better part of six or seven months last year. Then I started driving well the end of the year, and I’ve carried that through into this year.”

Indeed he has, sitting sixth in driving distance, at nearly 305 yards.

Putting, on the other hand, has never been McIlroy’s strong suit. He’s 141st in strokes gained-putting, though one would not have known about his struggles on the greens after the clinic he put on Thursday at Quail Hollow. McIlroy needed just 28 putts to get to three shots behind 18-hole leader Angel Cabrera.

Included in a dazzling display of putting wizardry was a stretch of five straight one-putts, which, Bernie McGuire pointed out, McIlroy rolled on greens that were completely redone since he finished tied for 10th last year.

“That was a good step for sure,” McIlroy said on Thursday. “I held some nice putts which was good to see. At least it tells me the stuff I’m working on is going in the right direction.”

Currently residing in 11th place in the world rankings, McIlroy may well work his way back into the top 10 with the help of putter whisperer Dave Stockton. After a lackluster T8 finish at the Masters last month, McIlroy has employed a number of practice techniques, including a putting mirror and chalk line designed to help him roll the ball more accurately.

“I started standing a little too close to the ball [when putting] so my eye line was the far side of the ball,” he said ahead of Thursday’s first round. “I basically couldn’t see a straight line [and] thought I was aiming about three inches left of that, so sorta hard to hold putts if you’re not aiming in the right place.”

Stockton has helped McIlroy regain confidence that he is seeing the putting line correctly.

“Seems so simple,” he said. “[One wonders] how can a tour pro make that mistake, but you get into bad habits and it sorta takes a bad putting week or an eye opener like Augusta for me to say something needs to change here.”

McIlroy will try to bring his new flat stick sorcery into Friday’s second round, which will start at 1:25 p.m. ET on the first tee.

“I’ve always been the type of player that I’ve never had to rely on my putting too much, so obviously you putt well, you’re going to do well and contend in tournaments,” McIlroy said. “I feel like I’ve always been a different sort of player, where even if sometimes I don’t putt so well, I’ll still be able to get it to run under par because I can hit the greens on the par-5s and two-putt those and hit a couple of iron shots close. But I never felt like I needed to rely on my putting so much.”