US Open champion Rory McIlroy declared his hopes Thursday that Tiger Woods would return to his best form so he could test his credentials against the 14-time major winner.
Woods has yet to arrest an alarming slump in form that has left him without a tournament win since November 2009 and without any major titles for over three years.
In contrast, McIlroy's record-breaking win at the US Open this year is still very much fresh in the memory and the 22-year-old has already risen to third in the world rankings.
But the Northern Irishman said he would like to see Woods regain his form of old in order to see if he could beat the American in a head-to-head battle.
"Tiger Woods at his best is very hard to beat, but top-class sportsmen want to measure themselves against the best so it would be great if I was able to go up against Tiger at his best and see how I compare," McIlroy told Sky Sports News.
"We'll just have to see what happens, I've got a long way to go before I get to that stage and he has to start playing a little better too. But hopefully it does happen because I think it would be great for the game of golf to see him up there contending again.
"We've got so many good young players coming through now that I think golf is in very exciting times -- the likes of myself, Dustin Johnson, Rickie Fowler, Jason Day, Matteo Manassero, [with] all these young guys coming through I think it's exciting times ahead."
McIlroy also said he believes the world rankings system remains a fair reflection of the game's best players, although he insisted that majors and not the No. 1 spot will always remain his priority.
At present the No. 1 and No. 2 spots are filled by Luke Donald and Lee Westwood, both of whom are yet to clinch a major title. McIlroy currently sits in third place but insists he has no problem with how the classification works.
"If you win a major then the No. 1 ranking should take care of itself," he said. "If I win tournaments and play the way I want to then the No. 1 ranking will happen, winning tournaments is the most important thing.
"I'd rather do both, win majors and be world No. 1 but if I had to choose between one and the other I'd definitely choose majors."
