Backspin: One week won't tell the story for Tiger

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How will Tiger Woods fare in his first tournament since pulling out of THE PLAYERS Championship? What state is his left knee and Achilles in? Is he coming back too soon? Will he ever be the player he once was?

Those are just some of the questions surrounding Woods as he returns from an 11-week layoff for this week's World Golf Championships-Bridgestone Invitational, a tournament Woods has completely dominated with seven career wins.

Yet there are so many questions and so few answers. Some of those, however, will of course get answered this week.

Woods only recently began hitting balls again, and on Friday, he met with his coach, Sean Foley, to talk about the game plan going forward.

If Woods is 100 percent healthy -- a big "if" considering all the years of injuries on his 35-year-old body -- it shouldn't take long for him to start performing the way we've all become spoiled to him doing. If he's not, then it will take longer.

The latter is something Woods has talked about frequently. Needing time to heal, needing time to implement the swing changes he's been working on, needing time for his short game to come around because he hasn't put as much practice or emphasis on it as he has in the past.

Is that time now? It may be, but one week won't tell the full story. Remember, he hit it as well as he ever has earlier this year at the Masters, but he had to shut it down a month later because of the injuries he re-aggravated that week.

It's a good sign for Woods, and golf, that he's able to play this week, and next at the PGA Championship, but it's only the first of what will be many small steps for Woods in the weeks and months ahead.

Stock up

Webb Simpson: The third-year player out of Wake Forest was all over the place Sunday, but his tie for ninth was his sixth finish in the top 16 and third top-10 in that span. Even though Simpson didn't win, he keeps putting himself in position and eventually will break through. FedExCup rank: 9 (9 last week) Brendon de Jonge: In his last three starts, de Jonge has now finished T7, T13 and T4 Sunday at The Greenbrier, where his final-round 66 wasn't enough to erase a third-round 72. Still, all of de Jonge's best golf has come in the past month so don't be surprised if he continues to be in contention. FedExCup rank: 46 (55 last week). Cameron Tringale: Speaking of guys who have played well over the last month, Tringale has five top-25s in his last six starts and three of those are top-10s, including a tie for fourth at The Greenbrier Classic. A spot in the PGA TOUR Playoffs for the FedExCup is a given. FedExCup rank: 56 (69 last week)

Stock down

Stuart Appleby: A year ago, Appleby was the talk of golf after his final-round 59 to win The Greenbrier Classic. To say the Aussie has struggled of late would be an understatement. Appleby has made to it to the weekend just once since March with 10 missed cuts, a WD and a DQ in his last 13 starts. FedExCup rank: 111 (109 last week). Brian Gay: As well as Gay putts it, he's had just one top-10 since February and has missed the cut in three of his last six starts. The good news for Gay is that he played well enough in the beginning of the year that he'll still make the Playoffs. FedExCup rank: 48 (45 last week). Retief Goosen: Other than a tie for third in Memphis two months ago, Goosen has struggled, battling injury and some rough patches in his game. He shot 77 Friday at The Greenbrier to miss the cut and has finished over par in five of his last six tournaments. FedExCup rank: 113 (111 last week)

THE BACK NINE: 9 THINGS YOU NEED TO KNOW

1. Raise your hand if you saw Bob Estes or Scott Stallings coming? It says an awful lot about just how deep the talent pool is on TOUR when those two come from virtually out of nowhere and have a chance to win. In Estes' case, The Greenbrier Classic was his 584th career start. But it also represented a mark of consistency, at least in terms of being able to stay on TOUR for as long as he has, having at least one top-10 finish in each of his 23 seasons since 1989.

2. As for Stallings, his third-place finish at the Transitions Championship is for all intents and purposes what got him to The Greenbrier Classic, because he was stuck near the bottom of the re-shuffle. And he only got into that tournament because of his relationship with good friend Kenny Perry and of course the folks at Transitions. Now Stallings is headed to the PGA TOUR Playoffs for the FedExCup and possibly the Deutsche Bank Championship -- the second event in the Playoffs -- where the diehard Red Sox fan hopes will be able to attend the pairings party at Fenway Park.

3. I have to disagree a little with Bob Estes, who said on Sunday that the best finish for a championship is still a par-4. I'd ask, why not end it with a par-3? It's a novel idea and something we should see at least a couple of times a year. Estes' logic was sound -- "You're challenged to get the tee shot with a driver in the fairway and then you have to hit two good shots to finish it off," he said -- but even he admitted not every course needs to end with a par-4. And at The Greenbrier Classic -- one of two tournaments on the PGA TOUR with a par-3 as the finishing hole -- a lot of players were torn between clubs in the final round. Futhermore, did anyone think it was unexciting when Jonathan Byrd made a hole-in-one in a playoff to win in Las Vegas last year, or when Scott Stallings made back-to-back birdies on 18 Sunday to win?

4. Perhaps it's appropriate that Olin Browne's first career win on the Champions Tour came at the U.S. Senior Open, because he's the definition of a grinder. During his PGA TOUR days, Browne made 449 starts and won three times, and he did so coming out of that golf powerhouse Occidental College. It's a small, highly regarded liberal arts college in L.A. that has produced 10 Rhodes Scholars, a dozen Truman Scholars, 55 Watson Fellows and is among the top 10 percent of liberal arts schools whose alumni go on to earn a doctorate. And now, it's produced a U.S. Senior Open champion.

5. Speaking of the U.S. Senior Open, Damon Green won't be quitting his day job as Zach Johnson's caddie anytime soon, but he probably could if he wanted to. Green tied for 13th at Inverness, where he was in contention going into the weekend but couldn't gain any ground with a 70-70 finish. Ironically, his job as a caddie is what's helped him as a player as much as anything. "I really didn't know what I was doing till I started caddieing for Scott Hoch," Green told GolfDigest.com. Earlier in Green's life he played the mini-tour circuit, where he racked up some 70 wins, before caddieing for Hoch and eventually Johnson. "He taught me a lot about course management and [I] figured you don't have to shoot at every pin. Sometimes, par's not bad. I was a better player after two or three years caddieing for Scott. I just got caught up in the caddieing business, and I made a pretty good living doing that."

6. Bryon Bell will be on Tiger Woods' bag this week at Firestone, but Woods' agent Mark Steinberg told the Associated Press that no long-term decision has been made. This of course isn't the first time Bell, a longtime friend of Woods and the president of his design company, has toted the bag. He's filled in three other times, including in 1999 at Torrey Pines, where Woods won.

7. Stat of the Week I: The top 70 players who earned the most official money from the 2010 WGC-Bridgestone Invitational through this year's Greenbrier Classic earned a spot, if not otherwise eligible, into the PGA Championship. Three players moved into the top 70 on Sunday: Stallings, Andres Romero and Cameron Tringale.

8. Stat of the Week II: Tommy Gainey, Blake Adams and Josh Teater lead the TOUR in starts with all three having played in their 25th event at The Greenbrier Classic. Gainey has taken the most advantage of those opportunities with five top-10s, including two third-place finishes, this season.

9. I think Player of the Year honors will ultimately come down to the Playoffs, much the way it did last year with Jim Furyk winning the FedExCup and then POY honors. Four players -- Mark Wilson, Bubba Watson, Nick Watney and Steve Stricker -- have won twice on TOUR this year. Of those four, I'd argue that Watson and Watney have had the best seasons. But what if, say, Luke Donald wins the PGA then makes a run in the Playoffs? There are only two months left in the season, but there's an awful lot still to be decided.

Forward Spin

All eyes will be on Tiger Woods at Firestone CC, where he's been incredibly dominant in his career with seven wins and only one finish outside the top 10. Hunter Mahan, however, is the defending champion with Woods having by far his worst outing there a year ago when he finished 18 over and near the bottom of the leaderboard. That was under far different circumstances, however, and Woods should feel more comfortable this time around. As for Mahan, he played well early in the season but has cooled since. Mostly it comes down to short game and putting for Mahan, who's one of the best drivers of the ball on TOUR. If he can roll it the way he did earlier this year -- and this is the time of year when Mahan usually plays well -- he'll be right there in contention again this year. You'd be hard-pressed to find many golf courses with better scenery than Montreux Golf & Country Club, site of the Reno-Tahoe Open. The tournament is back in its spot opposite the WGC-Bridgestone Invitational after last year being played the week of the British Open. Matt Bettencourt is also back to defend his title. He played well in the early part of the season, picking up a couple of top-10s in the first three months, but he's struggled mightily of late with four straight missed cuts in his last six starts. Maybe a return trip to Tahoe will help.

Kodak Challenge

THIS WEEK: World Golf Championships-Bridgestone Invitational HOLE: The par-5 16th at Firestone South UPDATE: Bill Lunde's two-shot lead might get smaller this week -- he's not in the field at Firestone South. This week might not see any eagles, though. The 16th is a true three-shot hole. Take a tour | Kodak Challenge standings