Stockton on Rory: “With his touch he will have more problems with the driver"

Dave Stockton has no worries about Rory McIlroy and the Nike putter (above) but fears it may take him longer to get used to his new Nike driver. Picture Photo Eoin Clarke/www.golffile.ieDave Stockton has no concerns about Rory McIlroy’s struggles with his new Nike putter but admits the world No 1 may take longer to find his touch with his new driver.

Speaking to the Golf Channel’s Rex Hoggard at the PGA Merchandise Show in Florida, the American short game guru said he wasn’t worried that McIlroy took his Nike Method putter out of the bag after just one round in Abu Dhabi last week and went back to his Titleist Scotty Cameron putter in round two before missing the cut.

“I have no doubt we can get it worked out,” Stockton said of McIlroy’s move to the Nike Method. “I talked with his agent this morning, he put 14 clubs in the bag and hadn’t played in two months.

“He’s pumped about the clubs. He has no question he can use those clubs, I just think it was a little bit early.”

The putting guru began working with McIlroy last year and said he wasn’t surprised the Northern Irishman made the putter switch.

“When I texted back and forth with him he said he was going to go the first round with it and he thought he’d be alright. It will just take him a while,” said Stockton, who is scheduled to work with world No. 1 early next month.

In fact, despite the focus on McIlroy’s putter switch in Abu Dhabi, Stockton says the more difficult transition will be to the new Nike driver – which the Ulsterman struggled with in the Middle East connecting with just 13 of 28 fairways for two days.

“With his touch he will have more problems with the driver,” Stockton said. “That’s the one it will take him a little bit longer to get.”