Rory McIlroy is the rightful favourite to win the Honda Classic

Rory McIlroy’s solid start to his season looks set to get even better at the Honda Classic this weekend.

The US Open champion heads into the event as the 7/1 favourite following another good showing at the Accenture World Match Play last weekend.

McIlroy may not have won – he lost in the final to American Hunter Mahan – but he continued to build on the good form that has seen him move up to second in the world rankings, just 0.53 points behind current World No.1 Luke Donald.

A win in the Honda Classic would see him claim the top spot and McIlroy himself believes it’s only a matter of time before he is looking down on the rest of the golfing world.

Speaking to the Telegraph, McIlroy said: “Getting to the top of the rankings is hopefully inevitable, if I keep ¬playing the way I am at the minute.”

He will certainly be the man to beat this week and the 7/1 offered for him to triumph could prove to be a very shrewd bet – especially considering the way he saw off Lee Westwood in the semi-final of the Accenture World Match Play.

Second favourite is, of course, Tiger Woods at 10/1.

The 14-times major champion crashed out in the World Match Play to Nick Watney in the second round following 18 holes in which his putting was far from the fail-safe weapon we’ve become used to.

He missed a five-foot putt on the 18th to take the match to a 19th hole and he will need to improve on the greens to claim a maiden Honda title.

However, he’s finished in the top 15 of all three of the strokeplay events he’s played in this season and looks well worth an each-way punt.

Elsewhere, Westwood is also 10/1, while Graeme McDowell is out at 33/1 to win his first tournament of the year.