The Arnold Palmer Invitational kicked off yesterday at Arnie’s Bay Hill Golf Club in Orlando, Florida.

Bay Hill has been very, very good to Tiger Woods over the years. He is the defending champion and has won this event on seven previous occasions. He also won one of his three USGA Amateur Championships on Bay Hill.

Rory McIlroy has been the No. 1 ranked player on the Official World Golf Rankings for 39 weeks. His poor play thus far in 2013 and Tiger Woods' five wins over the past 12 months have drastically closed the gap.

With McIlroy not in the field this week, a win for Woods could propel him past McIlroy and back into the No. 1 spot.

McIlroy intends to play only in the Shell Houston Open before the Masters.

Woods has held the top spot in the world for a total of 623 weeks (12 years) in his career. As recently as the fall of 2011, Woods had fallen outside of the Top-50 in the world due to his injuries, swing changes and personal problems.

His comeback gained momentum with three wins last year starting right here at Bay Hill in the 2012 Arnold Palmer Invitational. He also won the Memorial and the AT&T National.

Woods has been playing solid golf thus far in 2013. His short-game is much improved from last year and he seems to have additional confidence with a driver in his hands.

He is looking to get back into contention at the majors. He has not won a major championship since the 2008 U.S. Open and is stuck at 14 career major titles.

This will be Woods last start prior to the Masters next month. A third win in 2013 at the Palmer would make him the runaway favorite to don his fifth Green Jacket and get one major closer to Jack Nicklaus’ record of 18 career major trophies.

Here is a look at the top of the leaderboard, through the first day of play: