Morikawa, Hovland chase world No 1 spot at PGA Valspar

Playing partners Collin Morikawa and Viktor Hovland, the world's number two and three players, will be chasing the summit of the global rankings at the PGA Tour Valspar Championship starting on Thursday.

Five of the world's 10 top players will compete at Innisbrook's par-71 Copperhead course at Palm Harbor, Florida, with Spain's Jon Rahm in jeopardy of losing the number one spot.

American Morikawa, the reigning British Open champion and 2021 PGA Championship winner, and Norway's Hovland, who won at Mayakoba in November and the World Challenge in December, are each at the highest ranking of their respective careers.

Morikawa or Hovland, together in Thursday and Friday groups, would become world number one for the first time with a victory. Morikawa would take the top spot with as low as a three-way share of second - provided Hovland isn't the winner.

"It would be huge," Morikawa said. "It would be definitely a part of my career I would remember but I want to stay there as well.

"Anyone would love to get there and everyone would see the satisfaction in the work and everything you have put in. But whether I get there next week or whether I get there whenever or whether I don't get there, the work is not going to stop because I feel I can still get better.

"I want to be the best in the world but that's going to require a lot of consistency, a lot of other areas of my game to be a little more consistent. I've shown it in certain events where I'm able to put it together but I want to keep doing that, keep working on those little things."

Morikawa said thoughts of taking the top spot have snuck into his thoughts and prevented his best efforts in prior events.

"I think the biggest thing for me is just I need to focus on this week," he