Singh, Els close in on Tiger for No. 1

AKRON, Ohio -- Tiger Woods already lost out on the majors. Next up could be his No. 1 ranking.

The top candidate is Vijay Singh, who showed up at Firestone just 18 hours after winning the PGA Championship acting as if nothing had changed and he was ready to play the next tournament.

"You see some guys win and they have a little lull for a week, or they don't commit to the next week, or it's tiring for them to win," PGA Tour commissioner Tim Finchem said. "He's just ... he's just Vijay."

The next time Finchem sees Singh, he might be looking at the No. 1 player in the world.

Singh's playoff victory at Whistling Straits brought the 41-year-old Fijian to the brink of a goal not many thought possible two years ago.

Having closed the gap to a mere one-tenth of a point, Singh needs only to finish ahead of Woods at the NEC Invitational to end Woods' record reign of 262 consecutive weeks atop the world ranking.

"I want to finish No. 1, and if I can do that, that would be great," Singh said. "That will be the ultimate goal for me -- to win a major, win the money list and player of the year, and at the same time be No. 1 in the world. I'm very close, but my focus this week is this tournament."

Singh loves to play tournament golf, so much that he thinks the world ranking system works against him. Singh already has won five times this year, compared with one victory for Woods. A year ago, Singh was a four-time winner and narrowly lost the PGA Tour player of the year award to Woods and his five victories.

What counts is consistency, which is why Singh is so close to the top.

That is how Woods has stayed there for so long -- a record 332 weeks since turning pro eight years ago, breaking the record Monday that Greg Norman (331 weeks) had set over a 12-year span.

Woods has been No. 1 for the last 262 weeks, dating to his victory in the 1999 PGA Championship.

Woods also has to contend with Ernie Els.

The Big Easy can return to No. 1 -- he was last there June 1998 for four weeks -- by finishing as low as third, provided Woods and Singh are out of the top 15.

All of them will be taking on a Firestone South course that has added 130 yards to 7,360 yards as a par 70.