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Exciting times ahead for Tiger Woods

Tiger Woods is looking to fly high in 2013 © Getty Images

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Tiger Woods claims he is excited about the year ahead after recording his 75th PGA Tour win of his career at the Farmers Insurance Open.

The event was carried over to the Monday due to bad weather on the Saturday, but it did not derail the world No. 2 who powered to a four-shot win. His round ended in sloppy fashion, with a bogey on 14, double-bogey on 15 and bogey on 17 - which he attributed to losing focus due to slow play, but Woods will take the positives from the week.

He was imperious for three days, swinging the club with authority, hitting fairways and making putts. The late lapse threatened to take gloss off the performance, but Woods was not concerned and is ready for a big push towards the majors and world No' 1 spot.

"As I said at the beginning of the week, I'm excited about this year, " Woods said. "I'm excited about what I was able to do last year and win three times coming from where I came from. Then I felt really good about the things that we're doing and how my game was progressing.

"Last week I just made a mistake on the rules, and that's why I didn't play the weekend. But I did some really good things there, and I felt like if I could just build on that, which I did, and I drove the ball great this week, and as I said, my short game has come around again.

"Playing the way I did for most of this tournament, until the very end, the last five holes, I felt like I should have won this tournament. I put myself in a position where I had a big enough lead, and that's basically how I felt like I played this week. I played that way. I know I can do that, and it was nice to be able to do it."

Woods is well adrift of world No. 1 Rory McIlroy, but feels a string of positive results will move him into contention for the top spot.

Asked about hunting down McIlroy, Woods said: "That happens through a product of winning golf tournaments. That's how I got there in the first place. That's how he got there. It's winning golf tournaments, being consistent. Your bad weeks are going to be Top 10s, and when you win, you win. And you've got to be consistently winning. That's how I got there. As I said, and in order for me to get back there, that's what I have to do, and this is a nice start?"

Chris Wood claimed victory in the Qatar Masters at the weekend and it helped him fly up the rankings to 60 from 142.

World rankings: 1. Rory McIlroy (NIR), 2. Tiger Woods (USA), 3. Luke Donald (ENG), 4. Justin Rose (ENG), 5. Louis Oosthuizen (RSA), 6. Adam Scott (AUS), 7. Brandt Snedeker (USA), 8. Lee Westwood (ENG), 9. Bubba Watson (USA), 10. Jason Dufner (USA), 11. Steve Stricker (USA), 12. Ian Poulter (ENG), 13. Keegan Bradley (USA), 14. Sergio Garcia (ESP), 15. Dustin Johnson (USA), 16. Webb Simpson (USA), 17. Charl Schwartzel (RSA), 18. Graeme McDowell (NIR), 19. Nick Watney (USA), 20. Peter Hanson (SWE).

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