Tiger's Time to Shine, Low Scores Galore and GPS Systems on the Tour?

If Tiger Woods is to salvage his season, it's easy to suggest this week's WGC-Bridgestone Invitational is the now-or-never moment.

Depending on which one of the two most popular (and opposite) opinions you choose to support, Woods' game is either ready for a breakout moment that will reaffirm his role as the world's best player, or he has lost his magic, putting stroke and swagger, and may never again fully regain the invincibility that made him the world's most recognized athlete.

What is certain is that Woods' season so far has been a huge disappointment. In seven events, he has two top 10s (a pair for T-4s in the Masters and U.S. Open), one missed cut and one WD. He's 107th on the Fed Ex Cup points list. He's ninth on the U.S. Ryder Cup team ranking that automatically qualifies the top eight and captain Corey Pavin has publicly wondered if the world's No. 1 player would be a wise at-large pick.

Certainly, Woods has done little to inspire confidence, but, golf being golf, things can change quickly. One round, if not one shot, can alter a player's mojo, and if anybody needs a jumpstart, it's Woods. And that's what makes this week at Firestone CC in Akron, Ohio so interesting.

Not only is Woods the defending champ, he has all but owned the course for a decade -- winning seven of 11 times. When he didn't win, he finished second once and fourth twice.

He has never shot a round higher than 71 at Firestone. In 10 tournaments, he has a 67.5 scoring average.

"It's one of the best courses we play all year," Woods said on his website. "Everything is right in front of you."

"I ain't got a clue. They ought to give you a GPS when you register. Like a little beacon. You press a little button and its like, 'all right, you want to go eat here.' That place is amazing."
-- boo weekley, on the Greenbrier resort If Woods finds his old form, birdie whips the field on the way to a victory, then carries the momentum to next week's PGA Championship for another victory, golf will be calling him the 2010 Player of the Year.

But if he gets nothing going on a golf course that has been his favorite hunting ground, the vultures will be circling.

The intrigue should be most entertaining.

HOW LOW WILL THEY GO?

What's going on with the PGA Tour?

Stuart Appleby's final-round 59 Sunday to win the Greenbrier Classic was the fifth score of 60 or better on the PGA Tour in the last four weeks:

59 – Paul Goydos, first round, John Deere Classic

59 – Stuart Appleby, final round, The Greenbrier Classic

60 – Steve Stricker, first round, John Deere Classic

60 – Carl Pettersson, third round, RBC Canadian Open

60 – J.B. Holmes, third round, The Greenbrier Classic

Before this year the only other time in history that a 59 and 60 were recorded in the same season was 1999, when David Duval recorded a 59 and Tommy Armour III recorded a 60.

The eye-popping performances might be easier to explain than you might think.

"Our scores are more reflective of setup than design, if that makes sense," Jim Furyk said. "You can go to a lot golf courses out there and you can set it up to where even par wins or you can set it up to where 20-under wins. You're trying to find a good mix of making it very playable and rewarding good shots, but also making it difficult as well."

PRICE HONORED

Champions Tour member and World Golf Hall of Fame member Nick Price will be honored with the Old Tom Morris Award by the Golf Course Superintendents Association of America.

The organization's most prestigious honor is presented each year to an individual who "through a continuing lifetime commitment to the game of golf has helped to mold the welfare of the game in a manner and style exemplified by Old Tom Morris."

Morris (1821-1908) was greenkeeper and golf professional at the St. Andrews Links Trust Golf Club of St. Andrews, Scotland; a four-time winner of the British Open (1861, '62, '64 and '67); and ranked as one of the top links designers of the 19th century.

Price, a three-time major champion and former world No. 1, sponsors charities that benefit children within Palm Beach County (Fla.) and his native homeland of Zimbabwe. In addition, he formed the Nick Price Junior Golf Foundation in 1997 to support junior golf development in Zimbabwe.

BOO'S INSIGHT

The Greenbrier Resort, host site of last week's Greenbrier Classic (imagine that), is a old and grand facility located in White Sulphur Springs, W.Va.

That's all it took for golf's favorite country boy, Boo Weekley, to provide insight only Weekley can provide.

"I ain't got a clue," Weekley said when asked if he could find his away around the massive facility.

"They ought to give you a GPS when you register. Like a little beacon. You just press a little button and it's like, 'All right. You want to go eat here. All right.' Then boom, and it just kind of leads you around where you need to go. That place is amazing."

WEIR'S FUTURE

It's safe to say Mike Weir's career is at a crossroads.

The 2003 Masters champion recently turned 40 and is battling tendonitis in his right elbow. The left-hander has missed five of the last seven cuts. Once ranked No. 6 in the world, Weir has slipped to 86th.

"You know, it's been a bit of a tough stretch the last few months for me, but you know, I've gone through those before," Weir said recently. "And I'm still very motivated. So I'm working hard, and you know, maybe a little too hard."

MENTIONABLES

• Yani Tseng won the Women's British Open Sunday for her second major this season -- the Kraft Nabisco Championship was the other -- and third of her career. And she's 22 years old.

• Chris Couch has three events to make $15,559 and earn Major Medical status for the rest of the season.

• Charles Howell III finished T9 last week at Greenbrier, playing the entire week without a bogey. He is the first player since Bubba Watson in 2006 at Tucson to go bogey-free at a tournament and not win.

• Twenty-four-year-old Anthony Kim, who had a victory and four top 10s this year before undergoing thumb surgery in May, will be making his return to competition this week at Firestone. Kim returns from the almost-three month layoff with the stated goal of playing on the U.S. Ryder Cup team. Despite the absence, he remains fifth on the American points list.

The PGA Tour announced a five-year contract extension that will continue its cable/satellite television coverage in Scandinavia and the Baltic states, and adds Russia and Bulgaria.

The PGA Championship field has been announced for Aug. 12-15, at Whistling Straits in Kohler, Wis., and will feature the top 100 players from the latest Official World Golf Rankings.