The Northern Irishman teed-up alongside reigning Masters champion, Adam Scott and American Steve Stricker and outscored the duo with a round that included being five under par for his closing eight holes.

McIlroy’s prior rounds in the now staggering $9.5m event included 74 and 77 to miss the cut in 2009, 73 and 72 to also miss the cut in 2010 and then he sat out the weekend rounds last year with scores of 72 and 76.

In perfect morning scoring conditions, McIlroy headed to lunch tied for second place and three strokes behind surprise early leader, American Roberto Castro who equalled the course record with a nine-under par 63.

“It’s my first under-par round here on this golf course,” smiled McIlroy.  “So I’ll take whatever I can get.

“I feel a lot more relaxed coming into this year,” McIlroy said.

“Whatever I do this week it will be better than what I’ve done before.”

Of note, McIlroy didn’t hit a single driver on the front nine and then only used his new Nike Crimson driver three times over in the inward nine – 11th, 14th and 16th.

“I’m figuring out how to play Pete Dye golf courses,” said McIlroy, who actually has won Tour events on Dye-designed courses (2012 PGA at Kiawah Island and 2012 BMW at Crooked Stick).

“There’s no point in hitting driver off the two par 5s on the front. I can hit 3-wood at No. 2 and still reach the green (in two shots). This golf course is about keeping your ball in play.”

There’s also something to be said for keeping your ball below the hole to allow for more aggressive putts, an option McIlroy, or anyone else for that matter, didn’t have on last week’s much-maligned putting surfaces at Quail Hollow Club.

Although he tied for 10^th at last week’s Wells Fargo Championship, McIlroy arrived in Flordia ranked 68^th in the field in putting and had just two one-putts on his closing nine in Charlotte, N.C.

McIlroy also finally succumbed to a putter change that his short game coach Dave Stockton Sr. had been pushing for some time.  On Tuesday, Dave Stockton Jr. delivered an identical Nike Golf Method putter to McIlroy that he’d been using. The only difference was about 1 ½ degrees of additional loft.

“With the forward press I knew he could do it,” said Stockton.

“There is no mechanical change needed. I want the fastest roll possible, and I told his caddie it was coming in Charlotte, ‘I want him to try this before he gets too late in the year.’ (McIlroy) texted me last night and said how it felt really, really good.”

The result was a 27-putt performance that may seem statistically nominal, but is a monumental improvement for a player who hits as many greens in regulation as the world No. 2 does (he hit 15 of 18 Thursday).

Stockton was equally impressed:  “I would be really confident in his ability to make the short ones with more loft.

“I told him two things, ‘You have enough loft and you are on really good greens. You are going to be shocked with what you are going to do.’”