Wells Fargo Championship: Defending champion Rory McIlroy unfazed by new venue, makes strong start

Different golf course, same old Rory McIlroy.

Not just one way, either, but twice.

No matter.

And the second way in which the Northern Irishman was performing at his best on this new track?

"It's cool," he said on Wednesday. "I was driving in here yesterday morning, looked left and I thought, 'That looks like Congressional. Oh, that is Congressional.' So good vibes obviously from this area."

"I still to this day think it's the best week of golf I've played in my life," he added. "The ball was on a string that week and you wish you could bottle that. Unfortunately, that's not the case, but I think that's still the benchmark of how I can play. That's as good as I could play that week."

On Thursday morning it took him seven holes to record a par after starting on the back nine, but the good news was that he'd swapped five birdies, two of them from outside 20-feet, with just the one bogey.

Drive the green ✔️

Two-putt birdie ✔️@McIlroyRory makes easy work of the drivable 14th to take the outright lead. pic.twitter.com/k4KKJCI4j6

That's a very early position, but it's a big improvement on recent times because, as Dave Tindall highlighted pre-tournament, he ranks a lowly 95th this season.

He was also happy with his response to the two dropped shots on the sixth.

"Happy with the day. I can't be too disappointed and pretty happy with 67. It could have been a 65 or a 64, but it's still a good start."

READ MORE: Revealed: The weakness that has stopped Rory McIlroy winning a Major since 2014