Rory McIlroy admits he has fulfilled a childhood dream by rising to the summit of the Official Golf World Ranking.
Nothing less than victory in the Honda Classic on the US PGA Tour was going to be good enough to end Luke Donald's nine-month reign, and he produced the goods in nerveless fashion, even with Tiger Woods breathing down his neck after a stunning 62.
With Woods in the clubhouse one behind, McIlroy birdied the 13th, twice got up and down from bunkers on danger holes and parred in for a fabulous two-shot win.
The Holywood golfer becomes the second youngest world number one since the Ranking was introduced in 1986. Woods was a year younger when he first got there at the 1997 US Open.
"It's very special," he said. "When I was 10 or 11 I was interviewed and said I wanted to be the best player in the world and I wanted to win Majors."
He achieved the second of those targets at the US Open last June, only two months after he had shot 80 to lose the lead in the final round of the Masters Tournament.
Now he has achieved the first of them as well a month before he returns to Augusta National to try to take his revenge.
McIlroy immediately targeted a long stay at the summit, saying: “I'd like to stay there for a while. As long as I keep playing good golf and have chances to win tournaments, then hopefully I'll stay up there.
“I feel the way I'm playing at the minute, the level of consistency, hopefully I'm going to be able to stay there for a while.”
