Monday Backspin: 59s will still be rare; Stock up/down; more

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The biggest question being asked Sunday night and Monday morning -- because that's how fast-forward thinking we have become -- was, is golf on the PGA TOUR becoming too easy?

It's not an unexpected one after two 59s in the span of four weeks and a bunch of near-59s this season. But it's also a ridiculous one.

For one, you have to look at the circumstances. When Paul Goydos shot golf's magic number at the John Deere Classic, he did so under lift, clean and place rules.

You put a PGA TOUR player in that situation under good scoring conditions on a course that's susceptible to birdies and eventually it's going to happen.

Sunday, Stuart Appleby was simply in a zone on a short course that similarly was prone to giving up a bunch of birdies.

Yes, technology certainly played a part and as we've seen the new grooves rule has had little-to-no impact on scoring or statistics. But there was also more than 10 years between David Duval's 59 in the final round of the 1999 Bob Hope Classic and Goydos' last month.

Champion's Replay

Want to hear what Stuart Appleby had to say about winning The Greenbrier Classic? Click here The Greenbrier Classic: Final Leaderboard More coverage: • Highlights • Appleby interview • Complete tourney coverage

"I've only had two opportunities I potentially failed to shoot a 59," said Appleby, who is just the fifth member of the 59 club on TOUR.

And when Goydos shot 59, he was asked why there haven't been more of them on TOUR.

"I just feel golf's hard," said Goydos, who also admitted that lift, clean and place played a part in his 59. "It's hard for everybody. Eventually it gets to everybody, too. You know, it's an interesting question."

I have no doubt someone will shoot 58 in a TOUR event one day, but call me when guys start going sub-60 at places like Whistling Straits or TPC Sawgrass.

Until then, I'd ask which would you rather see, guys grinding for par or an occasional shot at history?

Stock up

Brendon de Jonge: Not many players have performed better than de Jonge in the last month with the Zimbabwe native notching three top-10s in his last five starts. The result? A likely ticket to THE TOUR Championship presented by Coca-Cola, if he keeps it up. FedExCup rank: 20 (34 last week) Paul Stankowski: Thanks to a back-nine 31 Sunday and his second top-10 in his last three starts, the oft-injured Stankowski is inching closer to a spot in the top 125. He'll need at least one more quality result in the next few weeks to get into the Playoffs. FedExCup rank: 139 (170 last week) Chris Stroud: Stroud's tie for ninth at The Greenbrier was just his second top-10 of the season. On the upside, it couldn't have come at a better time as it got him inside the top 125 on the FedExCup points list. FedExCup rank: 117 (132 last week)

Stock down

Trevor Immelman: The one-time Masters champ missed his fourth cut in his last six starts -- after posting top-25s each of the last two -- and is well outside the top 125 in FedExCup points. He'll need a big week somewhere to get to the Playoffs. FedExCup rank: 151 (146 last week) Jerry Kelly: Any more missed cuts and Kelly, who has missed his last four and is a combined 17 over in those starts, will tumble out of the Playoffs picture altogether. FedExCup rank: 107 (103 last week) George McNeill: Six missed cuts in his last eight starts have sent McNeill spiraling down the FedExCup standings. The tough part is that he's put together some good rounds, just not good weeks. Twice recently he's shot rounds of 65 or lower, only to back it up with 75s the next day. FedExCup rank: 127 (120 last week)

THE BACK NINE: 9 THINGS YOU NEED TO KNOW

1. This is turning into the year of the 50-somethings, and I don't mean the Champions Tour (I'll get to that later). In addition to Stuart Appleby's 59, we've now had a 57 (by a teenager in the Alabama State Junior), a 58 (Ryo Ishikawa to win in Japan), two 59s (Appleby and Paul Goydos) and a bunch of near-59s.

2. You wonder how Jeff Overton is going to recover from his latest runner-up. He was clearly frustrated Sunday when he spiked his club and visor after one errant tee shot and then had a reaction of disbelief when he missed a 4-footer for birdie on the penultimate hole, where his putt appeared to hit a spike mark.

3. Opinions vary on the par-3 finishing hole at The Greenbrier, but for whatever it's worth, I don't see a problem with it. Imagine if someone holed out to win the tournament, or shoot 58.

4. You have to credit the Greenbrier folks for setting up the course the way they did. They wanted a lot of birdies in the inaugural tournament and that's exactly what they got.

5. What did players think of The Greenbrier? By all accounts most loved it. Some, like Boo Weekley got lost ... three times. "I had to call my agent," Weekley said. "'How in the hell do I get where I'm going?' He says, 'Just try to get downstairs.' I'm like, 'Well, where is the elevator at?' I couldn't find that. I done made a wrong turn."

6. Fred Couples might get the popularity vote, but Bernhard Langer, I think, pretty much locked up Player of the Year honors with his victory Sunday at the U.S. Senior Open for his second major championship in as many weeks.

7. Interesting quote in the latest issue of Golf Digest from putting guru Stan Utley, who had been working with Sergio Garcia until early 2009, which is when Garcia broke up with his longtime girlfriend. "Last year I went to tournaments, and though he was always pleasant, he was never in a mood to be taught. He was a brokenhearted guy, in my opinion," Utley told Golf Digest. "This year he hasn't asked me to even be around. What I see with Sergio now is that his stroke path looks good, but his backstroke is too slow and makes him tentative through the ball. He doesn't trust it. I know I can help him, but he has to want to be helped." According to Garcia's agent, he has been working on his short game and putting with his main coach, Peter Cowen.

8. The announcement last week by the Wyndham Championship to allow spectators to bring cell phones inside the tournament is an interesting but inevitable one. While Rick George, the executive vice president of chief of operations for the TOUR, said this is only a test, you have to think at some point it will become the norm. How can it not, in this instant information and cell-phone driven age? Obviously, no one wants it to interfere with play and perhaps defending champion Ryan Moore summed it up best by telling the Winston-Salem Journal, "People appreciate the fact that you're not treating them like a 10-year-old."

9. Speaking of Moore, I got a chance to visit with him last week for an upcoming story on the former U.S. Amateur champ. Interesting guy and one who probably tinkers with equipment sometimes more than he should. That, by the way, is one of the reasons he signed with Scratch Golf, because they didn't require him to play a specific driver or putter (they don't make any, either) like a lot of club contracts do.

This week's Kodak Challenge hole

HOLE: The par-3, 177-yard 16th at Atunyote Golf Club THIS WEEK: The Tom Fazio design at Turning Stone Resort in Verona, N.Y., features the par-3 16th which demands precise distance control as five bunkers guard the difficult target. Click here to tour the Kodak Challenge holes | Current Kodak Challenge standings

The Forward Spin

WORLD GOLF CHAMPIONSHIPS-BRIDGESTONE INVITATIONAL This week will be a doubleheader with the World Golf Championships-Bridgestone Invitational and the Turning Stone Resort Championship for those who didn't qualify for the field at Firestone. The former means we'll be on Tiger Woods watch again, especially given his dominance in the event -- he's won the event seven times, including four of the last five years. Of course, the same was said about major venues Pebble Beach and St. Andrews. The bottom line for Woods, though, is if he makes putts, he'll win. If he doesn't, he won't. TURNING STONE RESORT CHAMPIONSHIP As for the Turning Stone Resort Championship, it moves out of the Fall Finish but is obviously opposite a World Golf Championships event. That said, upstate New York will surely boast better weather than it did last year when it was wet and bone-chillingly cold and Matt Kuchar went six playoff holes before finally beating Vaughn Taylor, who seems to have become a bit of a stalwart in these opposite-field events.