Rory McIlroy replaces injured Tiger Woods as the headliner of PGA Tour’s opening day

Tiger Woods won’t be teeing it up at this week’s Frys.com Open as planned and the next competitive golf date for the injured 321st-ranked player in the world remains a mystery. But the PGA Tour, which ended its last season 18 days ago, raised the curtain on its 2015-2016 campaign on Thursday with the former world No. 1 in the unfamiliar role of understudy to golf’s shiny new stars.

The two top-ranked talents among the young virtuosos who have shoved the old lions offstage, Jordan Spieth and Jason Day, are also absent from this week’ festivities. But No. 3 Rory McIlroy hopes a strong performance in California wine country will help him reclaim top billing.

“Seeing them [Spieth and Day] win five times a year and winning majors, it’s something I feel like I’ve done before and feel like I can do again,” McIlroy told reporters on Wednesday. “So there’s always motivation there, whether guys are doing well or not. I find myself in a position where I’m trying to get my game back to the level it needs to be.”

Unlike his marquee opponents, who battled each other in the Presidents Cup after a long regular season and are on furlough, McIlroy views the Frys as the start of the stretch drive of a year interrupted by injury.

“Even though it’s the new PGA Tour season, I feel like I’m in the middle of a nice little run to the end of the year,” said the four-time major winner, who called 2015 “a lost year” after he tore ligaments in his left ankle during a soccer game in July and went major-less for just the second time in five years. “I guess for a lot of guys, even the guys that played a full PGA Tour schedule last season and then played The Presidents Cup last week and they’re coming here, it’s a lot of golf.

“But as I said, I haven’t played as much as those guys, so I’m happy to be playing and happy to play quite a bit until the end of the year.”

McIlroy will take his vacation after a busy four-event schedule that ends with the European Tour’s Dubai finale in November

“I’m ready to get back into play and to compete again,” said McIlroy, who won twice on the PGA Tour before hurting his ankle. “Since I’ve come back from the injury, I’ve had a couple good finishes but not really been in contention. So I want to get back in contention, have chances to win golf tournaments. That’s really my focus until the end of the year.”

McIlroy was scheduled to tee off Silverado Country Club’s No. 10 at 10:50 a.m. ET with Justin Rose and Brandt Snedeker.

As for Woods, he’ll be 40 and likely south of the top 400 in the world rankings before he hits another golf ball in competition. He was starting to get a semblance of his form back in his last event, the Wyndham Championship in August, and was scheduled to continue his rebound this week at the Frys.

But as the sun rises on a new PGA Tour season, Tiger intimate Notah Begay III reminded us recently that it was just the opposite for his old friend who is rehabbing from a second back surgery.

“I think he has a clear understanding of where he’s at in regard to his career,” the Golf Channel analyst said earlier this month about his Stanford teammate whose last tour victory came in 2013. “The sun is setting.”