NEW YORK (AFP) - Four-time Major winner Rory McIlroy has switched back to using a Scotty Cameron putter for this week's Barclays Championship at Bethpage Park on New York's Long Island.

The move comes as a direct result of Nike recently announcing it would be getting out of the golf equipment business.

McIlroy had been gifted a Scotty Cameron putter during the course of the recent PGA Championship at Baltusrol before Nike made its shock announcement.

Fellow PGA Champion Rich Beem recalled the "gleam" in McIlroy's eyes when he was handed a Congressional winning Scotty Cameron Studio Select Newport GSS in the locker room at Baltusrol.

"He came in on one of the days after just being given a brand new Scotty Cameron putter which looked exactly like the one he won with at the US Open in Congressional and I said... 'man, that thing is pretty' and he goes 'yeah, isn't it?'" Beem said.

Now in his first tournament since the PGA Championship, McIlroy looks almost certain to pack a Scotty Cameron putter into his bag in the first of the 2016 FedEx Cup play-off events.

He was seen using a Scotty Cameron with the initials RM on the toe of the putter on the Bethpage Park practice putting green.

"I think everyone knows that my putting hasn't been where I wanted it to be," he said.