WENTWORTH, England, 27 May 2004 — World No. 2 Vijay Singh can edge closer to his goal of deposing top man Tiger Woods with victory in the Volvo PGA Championship, which starts at Wentworth today.
It is the Fijian’s first appearance at Europe’s flagship event since 2001 and a rare appearance on the European Tour for the 41-year-old, who is in a rich vein of form with three 2004 US Tour wins that see him top the American money list he won last year.
Singh and world No. 3 Ernie Els, who have both won the World Matchplay title on the Surrey course, will be gunning for a $750,000 first prize, though even that would not quite be enough for Singh to end the five-year number-on run of Woods, who is not playing this week.
For some, however, including Els, Singh is already the best in the world.
“If that’s what he (Els) says, then I have to agree with him,” joked Singh yesterday.
“There’s a lot of talk about the ranking system, but it’s one system we cannot break. It’s there for a reason and I guess as much as I’d like to be world number one I think the ranking speaks for itself.
“I won’t be fulfilled by all that talk unless I’m No. 1 in the world rankings, that’s my goal, when it’s official.
“It’s not really Tiger that I’m concerned about. I’ve made a goal that I want to finish my career, and I think I have about six or seven years left at the top, at least once ranked number one in the world.
“I feel this is maybe the year that I could make that.” While Singh has won a US Masters and a US PGA Championship, he felt winning more majors would be the only way of toppling Woods.
