Tiger Woods is slowly but surely regaining his best form, but the American has warned that he wants to become even better.
Tiger Woods: On the prowl
Two years and five months after he lost the number one spot, Woods will overtake Rory McIlroy and return to the top of the rankings if he successfully defends his Arnold Palmer Invitational title at Bay Hill this week.
The 37-year-old will be the first to admit that it hasn't been an easy journey as he not only dropped to outside the world top 50 but his divorce from Elin Nordegren and the infamous sex scandal saw him make all the wrong headlines.
Woods, though, has turned things around on and off the golf course as he has already won two titles this year while he announced earlier this week that he is dating US ski star Lindsey Vonn.
For now though his focus is on the Arnold Palmer Invitational and improving his game.
"I don't want to become as good as I once was, I want to become better," he said during a pre-tournament press conference. "We'll see.
"It's been a long process. I was hurt for a long time and at the same time had to make swing changes that were drastically different. I fell to 50 plus for a while and to gradually work my back is something I am very proud of.
"We are still getting better, things are becoming more efficient. The two wins this year I have built some nice leads and things are starting to come around."
Woods, who needs to win four more majors to equal Jack Nicklaus's record of 18, says he never doubted he would get back to the top if he regained full fitness.
"I just needed to get healthy and once I was able to practice properly I could implement the swing changes and I could get back there," he said.
"It happened to be a perfect storm where I was making a swing change and couldn't devote any time to it. Once I was able to do that I started to gain momentum and here we are.
"I didn't have the doubt that people might have expected; I just felt I needed to get healthy so things just didn't hurt."
He added: "I feel like I'm headed in the right direction from where I have come from. I'd like to get to 19-plus myself."
Tournament host Arnold Palmer also believes his compatriot is nearly back to his best.
"I think right now, looking at him and watching him play, he looks probably as strong and as good from a golf perspective as I've ever seen him," Palmer said today. "I think his swing and his posture and his attitude is far better than it's been in some time."
golf365.com