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Wednesday 22 January 2020 23:01, UK
Rory McIlroy admitted that the prospect of reclaiming the world No 1 berth was far from his mind when he missed the cut at The Open, but he can dethrone Brooks Koepka with a win at Torrey Pines.
Refreshed after an extended winter break, McIlroy returns to competition at this week's Farmers Insurance Open in California, where he joins Tiger Woods, defending champion Justin Rose and world No 1 Jon Rahm, the 2017 winner, in a world-class field.
McIlroy famously missed out on playing the weekend at Royal Portrush in July, where an expectant home crowd were stunned by his first-round 79 before their spirits were lifted a day later as the 30-year-old shaved 14 shots off his opening score in an enthralling dash to extend his tournament.
An emotional Northern Irishman would ultimately miss out by a single stroke, but it did not take him long to bounce back as he got the better of Koepka to win the Tour Championship, and with it the FedExCup crown, and he followed that with his fourth win of 2019 at the WGC-HSBC Champions in Shanghai.
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Victory at Torrey Pines this week would see McIlroy back at the top of the world rankings for the first time since September 2015, but he concedes that achievement looked unlikely when he departed his homeland seven months ago.
"It wasn't even on my radar when I was flying back from Northern Ireland in July," said McIlroy, who has never before won in his first start of the year. "But I've played consistently good golf since that point.
"I learned a lot of things at Portrush that I've put into my game, into my preparation, and into my thought process going into other tournaments. And I've had a pretty good run since then.
"I guess my thing is when I set myself goals, I set myself goals like I want to be plus-one strokes gained in the approach play stats, stuff like that. It's all about the process, about the game, and it's all about trying to make improvements. If I do that and I achieve those goals, then hopefully inevitably I get to that position.
"I don't think it irks me or gets me annoyed that I'm not holding that No 1 position. I feel like if I go about my business and I try to do the right things all the time, if I played well enough for a sustained period of time, hopefully I get there."
McIlroy conceded it would be a "big ask" to win his first tournament of the year against a field of such strength, and he is happy to bide his time in his quest to return to world No 1.
"I read a stat that I've never won in my first week back in any year, but I've had a few decent finishes so maybe this is the week where I can get myself over the line," he told Sky Sports.
"If it doesn't happen this week, I'm sure I'll have plenty more chances over the rest of the season to get back to No 1, so I'm not going to put that much pressure on myself this week to get it done."
McIlroy also hinted that he would adopt a more "carefree" attitude on the course this season, content that he has achieved practically everything he set out to when he turned professional in 2007.
He said: "I reminded myself after Portrush that I'm 30-years-old, I have basically achieved everything that I've wanted to achieve in the game, so why would I be careful?
"Why wouldn't I go out there with the most carefree attitude and think everything beyond this is just gravy. That's something that I've learned, that's the mindset that I'm going to try to replicate each and every time that I tee it up."
