Florida, March 30: Former World No.1 Tiger Woods has dropped out of the top 100 rankings for the first time in nearly 20 years.

Woods, who hasn't played since he withdrew from the Farmers Insurance Open on February 6, slipped to no. 104 in the official rankings released on Sunday.

The last time he was out of the top 100 was as a 20-year-old in September 1996 when he was at no. 225. It is not clear when Woods will return to competition after saying in February that he was taking an "indefinite break" from the sport.

But Woods has said he was hopeful of a return for the first major of the year, the Masters, starting on April 9. Woods first moved to world number one when he finished 19th at the 1997 US Open.

The 39-year-old spent a record 683 weeks at the top of the rankings until he lost the number one spot to Australia's Adam Scott in May 2014. Current number one Rory McIlroy has been top of the rankings since August.

Anirban Lahiri, the highest ranked Indian in the rankings, climbed up two spots to occupy the 33rd position.

IANS