Current World No. 3 Rory McIlroy has turned back the clock some six years and adopting a left hand under right putting grip heading into his week’s WGC-Cadillac Championship at Trump Doral.

McIlroy has made the change after struggling on the greens including missing the cut in last week’s Honda Classic..

He posted a 68 to finish five shots adrift of Justin Rose in Monday’s Seminole Pro-Am before taking the 75-minute drive south to suburban Miami.

Rory McIlroy putting with his left hand below his right during a practice round today at Trump Doral (Photo – www.gettys.com)

And after sitting down looking at videos on his putting set-up McIlroy said he’s going to stick with a new ‘left hand under right’ putting style as he hinted via his Twitter page.

“It’s a drill that I’ve been doing for a while because I feel like my left hand sort of controls my putting stroke and that’s the sort of lead hand for me, and I felt like over the past few weeks, my right hand was becoming a little bit too dominant,” he said.

“I practiced with it over the weekend just with my left hand below right and it felt really, really good.

“So I’m going to give it a try this week and see where we go with it.”

And McIlroy indicated it’s not the first time in his career he’s gone with such a putting grip, and adopting the gripping method some six years ago in his first full season in the pro ranks.

“I used it back my first year on Tour, 2008, for a while but then it’s a drill that I’ve always done,” he said.

“It’s a drill, and I’ve putted a lot just with my left hand. It’s one of those things where the drill started to feel a little bit better than the real thing, so I’m just going to stick with it.”

And McIlroy’s new putting grip will be right under the microscope as he’s grouped for the opening two rounds of the $10m WGC event with World No. 1 Jordan Spieth and second-ranked Jason Day for the first two rounds this week at the Trump National Doral Resort.