That championship was played in steamy August, another contributing factor to the layout feeling unfamiliar. Now the big changes have bedded with further refinements carried out two years ago.
McIlroy posted his most recent wins there in 2021 and last year and will be delighted the PGA is played in May these days. Quail Hollow, boasting 61 bunkers and four water hazards, will feel reassuringly familiar and just how he likes it.
But it will be set up tougher than it usually is for the Wells Fargo Championship (now known as the Truist). Chief championships officer Kerry Haigh is known for delivering stern but fair examinations.
The rough is likely to be half an inch longer and a new ninth tee adds length to the scorecard. Slopes on a dozen greens have been softened, which should offer a wider range of hole locations to challenge the 156-man field.
Of those competitors, though, no one should have more confidence than McIlroy. As much as it can in this capricious game, everything appears to be falling into place.
Unburdened by ending his 11-year wait for a fifth major to join the all time greats as a grand slammer, he is now heading to his favourite venue on and off the course.
The traditional May date for Quail Hollow’s regular tour stop means he has celebrated the majority of his adult birthdays in the Charlotte area. “I love coming back here,” he says.
“It’s a place that I’m very comfortable at. With Quail Hollow, the city of Charlotte in general and the people.”
He will gain a rapturous following this week, coming in as a redemptive and all conquering hero of Augusta. “All these people have watched me grow up,” he added.
“I won here for the first time as a 20-year-old. They’ve seen my progression throughout the years.”
When the then curly haired youngster won in 2010 he fired weekend rounds of 66 and 62 after making the cut with nothing to spare. He beat Phil Mickelson by four shots.
It was a true glimpse into the future.
Forever finding the most dramatic storylines, on that occasion McIlroy capped his victory by outrageously holing out on the closing green from more than 40 feet. It lodged the first of so many glorious memories at this venue.
Which begs the question of whether there is another just around the corner? Victory this week would move McIlroy alongside Sir Nick Faldo’s six majors and tie the record for any European in the modern era.
Weather forecasters predict a stormy build up, suggesting a soft golf course to put an even greater premium on length off the tee. And that suits McIlroy and his booming driver just fine.
Golf is notoriously difficult to predict, but there can be no argument that there are many reasons for continued optimism for McIlroy’s legion of fans.
The man himself has observed: “I feel like there’s not a place on this golf course where I haven’t hit it from and don’t have some sort of memory of what to do.”
And, unarguably, most of those memories are very positive indeed.
