Spyglass Hill, California …

And after contesting a first Alfred Dunhill Links in 2007 and being familiar with the pro and amateur partner format, Rory McIlroy’s made a conscious decision in his maiden AT & T Pro-Am showing not to focus as much on the team format.

McIlroy birdied his closing hole on the Spyglass Hill course, and one of three host venues for the $ 7.4m event, to be already well-placed in sharing 16th place and only three shots behind the leading American duo of Beau Hossler and Kevin Streelman.

Rory McIlroy on his way to a round of 68 at Spyglass Hill on the opening day of the 2018 AT & T Pebble Beach Pro-Am (Photo – Getty)

McIlroy is making his debut in the AT & T sponsored event but then he’s no stranger to the pro-amateur format having first contested the Alfred Dunhill Links Championship in 2007 where he finished third to secure full 2008 European Tour membership.

However, McIlroy is yet to win at the Home of Golf and maybe it is for this reason he’s adopting a ‘newer’ approach in this his maiden team event of 2018.

“I mean I’ve had this format so many times at the Dunhill where it feels a bit different,” said McIlroy.

“Sometimes I get too much carried away with the team aspect and not actually, this is a golf tournament and there’s a lot of World Ranking points at stake here and whatever.

“So, I sort of made a conscious effort this week to treat it as that and not warm up right next to him, not — actually get my, I don’t know, my game head on and just sort of try and go through the things that I need to do to play well.

“It worked today, I guess, so.”