SAN DIEGO _ A four-time major winner before his 26th birthday and the owner of more than 25 titles worldwide, Rory McIlroy is hardly a rookie on tour.
Adding two new tournaments _ the Sentry Tournament of Champions in Hawaii earlier this month and this week's stop at Torrey Pines _ to his America-first schedule just makes it feel that way at times.
It's invigorating.
"I like that it's new and it's exciting and it's going to different places," McIlroy said after shooting a second-day low 65 on the North Course to move into a tie for ninth through two rounds in his Farmers Insurance Open debut.
"You know, when you've done the same exact thing for 11 years in a row, you sort of want a little bit of something different. It's nice to start the year the way I have. I definitely enjoyed my time at Kapalua, thoroughly enjoying my time here, and hope that I can make it a good weekend."
So far, so good.
Three weeks after tying for fourth in Hawaii, McIlroy bagged two eagles in the same round for just the fourth time on tour to go 7 under, one shot better than group-mates Rickie Fowler and Adam Scott.
Friday's feat began with an eagle put on the 10th green, McIlroy's first hole of the day. Six holes later, he one-hopped his second shot into the cup on the par-4 16th to move to 4 under on the day.
"It's always bonus when you can hole a wedge shot," McIlroy said.
He added: "It was a great way to start. I sort of needed it. ... I came off the golf course yesterday very pleased. I played very well. I drove it well, gave myself plenty of chances. I just didn't capitalize on the par-5s. I had irons into the first three par-5s yesterday and made three pars, which I need to capitalize on that a little bit going forward over the weekend."
McIlroy birdied the 18th, second and seventh holes Friday. The lone punishable gaffe was a bogey on No. 8, but McIlroy birdied the ninth to finish his afternoon.
A day earlier, McIlroy shot a 1-under 71 on the South Course, his first-ever run at either Torrey Pines layout.
He'd done his homework on the differences.
"The par-5s are very gettable (on the North), there's two reachable par-4s," McIlroy said after hitting 11 of 18 greens despite finding just five of the North's 14 fairways. "There's tee shots I hit today that if you hit those on the South Course, you get penalized a lot more, whereas you're giving yourself birdie looks (on the North) if you don't hit it behind a stray tree that's somewhere in the rough.
"You can let it rip a little bit more on the North course."
This week's West Coast stop is the third event of a schedule that the Northern Irishman is gearing more toward American events this year. He'll play Riviera Country Club for just the third time next month, move on to the WGC-Mexico Championship and then a lot of the usual stops in Florida.
The way things are going in San Diego this week, Torrey Pines could very well remain a fixture in McIlroy's schedule.
"I'll be back," McIlroy said. "I'll have to be back. It's gorgeous. What a great way to spend a week. There's a lot of courses on this West Coast swing that are pretty spectacular, but standing on that 16th tee on the North Course especially and looking back to the cliffs and the ocean, it's pretty nice."
