Wednesday 28 August 2019 18:30, UK
Rory McIlroy has made challenging Brooks Koepka for the world No 1 ranking his main priority for the remainder of the year.
McIlroy got the better of Koepka in a final-round duel to win the Tour Championship in Atlanta on Sunday, a victory which lifted him back to second in the world rankings ahead of Dustin Johnson.
The 30-year-old has spent a total of 95 weeks as world No 1, but he has not enjoyed that title since 2015 when his seventh spell at the summit was ended by Jason Day.
McIlroy dropped out of the world top 10 when he missed the cut at the Valspar Championship in March last year, but he has made steady progress back up the rankings since and is now Koepka's closest rival after picking up his third victory of the season.
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"It's a goal to get closer, to keep playing well," said McIlroy, who is back in European Tour action this week at the Omega European Masters in Switzerland. "I think I saw somewhere that there is more world ranking points on offer here than there has been for eight years.
"Wentworth is obviously big for world ranking points, and there's a WGC coming up as well, so there's still a lot to play for. But that's my focus for the rest of the year, getting closer to that No 1 spot."
McIlroy headlines a strong field at Crans-sur-Sierre this week as he makes his first appearance in the event since 2008, when he led by four heading into the final round but missed a five-foot par putt at the last and went on to lose a play-off to Jeff Lucquin.
The then 19-year-old did not have to wait long for his maiden European Tour win, which came in Dubai four months later, but he still regards his disappointment in Switzerland 11 years ago as one of the biggest regrets of his stellar career.
"I had a wonderful opportunity to win my first event on Tour here," added McIlroy, who plays alongside Lee Westwood and Matt Wallace over the opening two rounds this week.
"I was leading going into the last day, had a one shot lead playing the last and wasn't able to make par from there. Was beaten in the play-off. It's still to this day the one event that I think of that I would like to re-do - get a mulligan!
"The first time I was here I fell in love with the place, the people, the atmosphere. I'm glad that it worked out this year that I could be here. I would like to give myself another chance at least."
