Vijay Singh thanks Ernie Els very much for calling him the best golfer in the world right now.

But the Fijian will only be content when the official world rankings say the same thing - and he hopes to take another step in that direction with victory in the Volvo PGA championship at Wentworth on Sunday.

''I won't be fulfilled unless I'm there at number one,'' he said. ''I've made a goal that I want to finish my career ranked number one at least once.

''I don't have that many years to go - five, six, maybe seven - but I plan to do that, and I'm playing well enough.''

Singh, the US Tour's number one player last season and this, has crossed the Atlantic for what is both the 50th staging of the European circuit's flagship event and the 1,000th event in the tour's history.

There was a chance that this could be the week when the 41-year-old finally ends a Tiger Woods reign that goes all the way back to August 1999.

But under the two-year rolling system, Singh will still be just behind Woods if he captures the £419,779 prize.

Els has his sights on that cheque as well, having finished second three times on the same course where he has won the World Match Play championship five times, a record which makes him the narrow favourite.

There was something waiting for the South African when he went to his locker room the morning after he spoke at the Tour's annual dinner and stated that, in his eyes, Singh was the game's leading exponent at the moment.

Singh left him a belly putter as a present, a joke Els would have fully understood after he called in Germany last week for the club to be banned.

''If he thinks it's that easy maybe he should try it,'' said Singh.

''I suggested to him he should try it before he breaks it.

''But he's entitled to his opinion. I have nothing against Ernie, he's a great guy.''

One thing he does point out, though, is that there will be ''a lot of lawsuits'' filed if long putters are outlawed and when asked if he would be among them, he smiled and replied: ''I will wait until it happens.''

Singh's record in the last 12 months has been brilliant, although his failure to add to his 1998 US PGA and 2000 Masters titles does take something away from it.

In his last 22 starts in America he has had five wins and 16 top-ten finishes, earning 12 million dollars in the process. With his 30 million dollars in total, only Woods is ahead of him in the all-time money list.

Judging by the world rankings, Padraig Harrington was the European most likely to win this week, but for the second year running, the world number eight is taking a rest. He has never had a top-ten finish on the course and does not want to damage his confidence in the build-up to the US Open.

Darren Clarke takes on the mantle of the ''man most likely''. The Ulsterman was second to Ian Woosnam in 1997 and to Colin Montgomerie in 2000.

He has not won anywhere in Europe now for two years, however, and nor for that matter has Justin Rose.

Ian Poulter returns after pulling out on Saturday when his fiancee went into labour - he could not get home in time for the birth of son Luke - and Paul Casey hopes to find the form which brought him sixth place on his Masters debut at Augusta