Fed up Rory McIlroy has sent and SOS to golf’s putting doctor.

The Holywood hotshot, 19, is so frustrated with his poor form on the greens that he has followed the example of Open champion Padraig Harrington and headed to Dr Paul Hurrion’s putting laboratory.

Explaining the move, McIlroy said: "I said to myself 'I'm not putting well and I need to do something about it'.

"I'd met Paul when I was at Padraig's house in January and Padraig's probably the best putter on Tour and that's why I thought I would go and see him.

"So I decided to go and see Paul a couple of days after the US Open qualifier at Walton Heath because I did not want my poor putting to linger on.

"Putting has been the only aspect of my game letting me down over the last few weeks so I have done something about sorting it out and that's making the decision to work with Paul Hurrion.

"I spent a whole day at his lab and it was my own decision and not on anyone's advice.”

Less than a year after grabbing his tour card in double quick time, the Ulster ace has missed seven cuts this season and languishes 61st on the tour putting charts.

He’s more than two shots worse than Indian putting genius SSP Chowrasia with 29.7 putts per round.

But he’s hoping that some strong medicine from Hurrion will cure his ills and catapult him to the top of the game.

Harrington, Lee Westwood, Paul McGinley and David Howell have all used Hurrion’s laboratory techniques to improve on the greens.

And McIlroy believes he can take a giant leap up the Order of Merit by holing just two more putts per round.

He said: “If in the next five to 10 years I can take two shots a round off my scoring it's going to make a huge difference.

"Putting is just so much different to every other shot in golf and it's very much like a game within a game.

"Sometimes I have more feel when I have a 6-iron in my hand than my putter because I just hit the 6-iron to where I want to but with putting, you are very rigid and just trying to roll the ball into the hole.

"The decision has worked well and I am practicing hard and working on drills Paul has given me."

After missing the cut in last week’s BMW International in Germany, McIlroy will be hoping for better in this week’s French Open in Paris and Monday’s Open Championship qualifier at Sunningdale.

And if he succeeds in sorting out his bad form on the greens, he knows he has the all round game to go right to the top.

He added: "What Paul has done is picked me apart and put me back together again. I still have I still have a long way to go but hopefully I can soon start seeing the results."