Tiger Woods aims to reclaim No. 1 ranking

Tiger Woods termed his victory Monday at Torrey Pines “a nice way to start the year,” but the 75-time PGA Tour winner has his sights set on more than merely inching closer to Sam Snead’s all-time record of 82 wins. The world’s second-best golfer may not concede as much to the media, but he aims to topple Rory McIlroy from his perch atop golf’s world rankings.

“Of course it’s important to him,” Woods’ caddie Joe LaCava told Golf Channel.com’s Randall Mell after his boss put the finishing touches on a four-shot triumph at the weather-delayed Farmers Insurance Open. “Who doesn’t want to be the top dog? If you want to be No. 6, you’re probably in the wrong business.”

Woods, who publicly pooh-poohs talk of reclaiming the prime slot that he owned for a record 623 weeks, moved nearer to dethroning McIlroy after chalking up his eighth W at the San Diego venue.

When the two rivals began their worldwide season the week before in Abu Dhabi, Woods was 4.20 points behind McIlroy on the Official World Golf Rankings roster. Woods’ win on Monday took a bite out of the lead McIlroy has built since last August, with just 3.14 points now separating No. 1 from No. 2.

With McIlroy on hiatus until the Match Play Championship in February, Woods could whittle away at his buddy’s slim edge even more, though the 14-time major champ has not announced when he’ll next tee it up in competition. For sure, Woods will not be in the field for this week’s cocktail party that is the Phoenix Open or the Pebble Beach National Pro-Am in February.

“Much to our disappointment, Tiger will not be playing in the AT&T this year,” tourney director Steve John confirmed to the San Francisco Chronicle.

Woods has been evasive about whether he would make make his first appearance since 2006 in next month’s Northern Trust Open at Riviera.

“Let’s just focus on tomorrow first,” Woods said with a laugh on Sunday about the possibility of returning to an event in which he’s 0 for 10 in amateur and professional starts.

With 11 contests leading up to the Masters in mid-April, Woods and McIlroy may both make their next starts in the match play event in Arizona in little less than a month. And though Woods may be loathe to say so, he may relish the opportunity not only to notch back-to-back triumphs to kick off his season but to grab the rankings crown.

Winning, he said, was the way to accomplish that feat.

“[Getting to the top] happens through a product of winning golf tournaments,” Woods told reporters Monday. “That’s how I got there in the first place. That’s how [McIlroy] got there. It’s winning golf tournaments, being consistent....For me to get back there, that’s what I have to do, and this is a nice start.”