EUROPEAN OPEN:WHAT DO you do when you've missed three of the last four cuts? Not one to accept such standards, Rory McIlroy's response was to be proactive.

A new driver - with a different shaft - was put in the bag; putting guru Dr Paul Hurrion, who numbers Pádraig Harrington among his clients, was engaged; and his long-time swing coach Michael Bannon was flown over from Belfast to spend constructive time with his protege.

The result? McIlroy went out yesterday and shot a 67. Not before time, the bounce was back in the teenager's step.

Sure, he's still a work in progress, but there was much to be impressed about McIlroy yesterday. For one, his round started without any hint of the fireworks that were to light it up by the time he signed his card. In fact, McIlroy had three bogeys - along with two birdies - in his opening seven holes, before birdies on the eighth and ninth kick-started him to life.

What followed was a back nine of 32 as McIlroy moved steadily up the leaderboard, eventually finishing alone in fourth place.

For a player who has missed eight of 16 cuts this season, this start was just what the doctor ordered.

The work McIlroy did on the putting green with Hurrion on Tuesday - "We worked on posture and alignment and balance, it was all just a bit off . . . there's still a bit to go, because I definitely want to be one of the best putters in the world," he said - paid off, even if his round finished with a missed birdie putt on the 18th. For starters, though, this was acceptable.

McIlroy's changes were brought about after a run since the Irish Open (when he finished seventh, and looked ready to kick on as the season entered its busiest period) featured three missed cuts, most recently in last week's French Open. Then, that was followed by failing to qualify for the British Open last Monday in Sunningdale.

Since then, he has worked with Hurrion and, especially, Bannon to get the spark back into his game. And it has worked.

"I think I'd lost a bit of confidence for the first time in my life. I was playing too negatively, but you are going to get periods like that and, hopefully, if I come across these periods again, I'll deal with them better. I've been saying the last couple of weeks that my game was close and the round today proved it is getting there."

Prior to his round, McIlroy had actually watched some of Ross Fisher's round on the television. It's not something he would normally do, but he felt it would help to see how others were playing.

"Like, on 17, I saw a lot of guys going through the green so I knew it was a really firm green . . . stuff like that can be beneficial."

So he has at least put himself into a position to contend.

"When you're playing well, you always have a bit more confidence . . . I'll go out (in the second round) and try to get up to Ross's score and see what happens."

His highpoint came on the 15th, where he hit a monster drive followed by a nine-iron approach to six feet for an eagle.

For a time, Paul McGinley also looked set to get into a challenging position. The Dubliner was six under par as he walked on to the 17th tee, but a bogey-double bogey finish - having covered the previous 16 holes with six birdies and 10 pars - proved costly and he signed for a 69.

Harrington's round never got going. The neck injury that curtailed his preparations was one factor in this, typified by the double-bogey six he picked up on the sixth (his 15th hole), where his pulled tee-shot hit a cart path and plunged into heavy rough some 40 yards left of the fairway.

He eventually signed for a level par 72.