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By Dave Shedloski
PGATOUR.com Senior Correspondent

Five tournaments in three weeks.

If the TOUR Insider thinks this is rather nifty, then imagine how much the rank and file must like all these opportunities to tee it up.

Jim Furyk is coming off a win at the Canadian Open. (Badz/WireImage)

POWER RANKING

World Golf Championships - Bridgestone Invitational

Rank Player 2006 Finish 1 Tiger Woods WON 2 Jim Furyk 3 3 Hunter Mahan DNP 4 Phil Mickelson T54 5 Paul Casey T4

POWER RANKING

Reno-Tahoe Open

Rank Player 1 Tom Pernice 2 Bo Van Pelt 3 Ken Duke 4 John Cook 5 Stephen Marino

Yeah, things are heating up on the PGA TOUR as the inaugural FedExCup playoff series nears. For the second time in three weeks golf gets a booster shot -- actually, more like a multitude of shots -- from an extra tournament.

The headliner is the $8 million World Golf Championships-Bridgestone Invitational at Firestone Country Club. The top 50 players in the Official World Golf Ranking, Ryder Cup and Presidents Cup players and other distinguished performers convene in Akron, Ohio, to gang up on Tiger Woods -- although maybe it's the other way around considering Woods has triumphed on Firestone's South Course five times in eight years.

While about 80 players from 20 countries head to the Rubber City, another 144 players trek across the country to Montreaux Golf & Country Club for the $3 million Reno-Tahoe Open. The test might not be as arduous in Reno, Nev., as it is in Akron, but the task of winning is no less simple. The last two champs, Vaughn Taylor and Will Mackenzie, shot 19 and 20-under par, respectively on the 7,472-yard, par-72 layout that plays shorter in the high altitude.

In addition to a decent payday, the winner at Montreaux gets a ticket to Augusta, Ga., and Kapalua, Maui, Hawaii. Taylor, Chris Riley and Scott Verplank all used the Reno-Tahoe Open title as a springboard into the Ryder Cup. Mackenzie, meanwhile, loves his snowboard and surfboard, so he's probably hoping a springboard is in his near future after edging Bob Estes by one shot in 2006.

For the first time since their inceptions in 1999, the two tournaments are being conducted the week prior to the PGA Championship instead of the week after. So instead of a bit of exhaling in the week following a major, participants could exhibit just a bit more intensity.

This is an important juncture in the revamped PGA TOUR schedule. Just four weeks remain before the playoffs begin, and about 220 players are pacing the fairways. That's going to add up to well over 60,000 golf shots.

Booster shots indeed.

Worth knowing:

For the third time in as many years, Firestone South has been lengthened. This time, it's the eighth and ninth holes, which have had 40 yards tacked on to bring the "monster" par-70 layout to 7,455 yards. The ninth hole already was the second toughest a year ago. If you recall, it's the hole where Tiger Woods fired a 9-iron over the green, off a cart path, and onto the clubhouse roof.

In 24 career World Golf Championship starts, Woods has 13 victories and 22 top-10 finishes. Including his two unofficial World Golf Championships-World Cup wins, Woods is 14 for 26. Of course, nowhere has he done more damage than in the Bridgestone Invitational. Woods has led 14 of 32 rounds in the event, all at Firestone where he's a combined 72-under par.

Woods is the only player to record top-10 finishes in the previous eight Bridgestone Invitational editions. Since the tournament's inception in 1999 he has never finished lower than fourth. Jim Furyk, who successfully defended his Canadian Open title last week, has six top-10 finishes, followed by Davis Love III with five and Stewart Cink and David Toms with three each. Cink's last victory was the 2004 Bridgestone Invitational.

Six men have finished in the top 10 in each of the two previous World Golf Championship events this year: Woods, Aaron Baddeley, Geoff Ogilvy, Nick O'Hern, Niclas Fasth and Paul Casey.

The Canadian Open was the 10th straight PGA TOUR event where the 54-hole leader failed to win. The last 54-hole leader to win was South Africa's Rory Sabbatini, who in May went on to win the Crowne Plaza Invitational at Colonial.

Twenty-one players are making their first appearance at the Bridgestone Invitational, and 12 players are making their first start in a World Golf Championship event, led by Hunter Mahan, who is among the hottest players on the PGA TOUR. Mahan won the Travelers Championship and finished tied for fifth at the Canadian Open after opening with a course record 62 at Angus Glen.

Players to watch at the Reno-Tahoe Open, in addition to Mackenzie, the defending champion, include '01 winner John Cook, who nears his 50th birthday and tied for fifth last year, 16-year-old Tadd Fujikawa, who makes his TOUR debut as a professional, and Jeff Maggert, who dusted off his old Ping Anser putter at the U.S. Bank Championship at Milwaukee and ended a four-cut slide.