Backspin: Short wait to see if Tiger's game is really back

text size

Tiger Woods dropped out of the top 50 in the Official World Golf Rankings this week for the first time in 15 years.

That's significant for any number of reasons, including limiting his ability to play in certain events. It also could be symbolic for Woods, now No. 51 in the world and playing in this week's Frys.com Open.

It's the first time Woods will play in a Fall Series event and the first time he'll play since missing the cut at the PGA Championship in August and not qualifying for the PGA TOUR Playoffs for the FedExCup for the first time.

Since that lost weekend at Atlanta Athletic Club, Woods has been home in Jupiter, Fla., working on his body, his mind and his game. By all accounts, that work has gone well.

His coach Sean Foley has been to see him a few times and thinks Woods, who is highly motivated to prove that his career is anything but on the downside, is really close to turning the corner.

And Foley might be right.

Over the weekend, Woods shot a course-record 62 at Medalist, where he now spends most of his time practicing. He had 10 birdies and a back-nine 29, reports Golf Digest's Tim Rosaforte, who also pointed out that Woods shot a 59 at Isleworth just prior to winning his first career major at the 1997 Masters.

If Woods does indeed turn the corner on everything he's been working on, he might have another first down the road: The first to win 19 career majors.

We'll find out this week if he's ready to make that turn.

Stock up

Nick Watney: A win Sunday would have given Watney three victories on the year -- more than any player on TOUR this season -- and made things awfully interesting in the PGA TOUR Player of the Year race. Instead, he finished second for his 10th top-10 of the year. Only Luke Donald has more. Kyle Stanley: Since his runner-up at the John Deere Classic in July, Stanley has played some of his best golf of the season with five top-25s in his last seven starts. Three of those were top-10s, including Sunday's tie for 10th in Las Vegas, which was his second tie for 10th in three starts. Billy Horschel: After nine missed cuts in 12 starts, including five in a row at one point, the former Gator standout has put together a late-season run. He has three finishes in the top 18 in his last six starts. At 154th on the money list, he's within striking distance of the top 125.

Stock down

James Driscoll: With just over $636,000 in earnings already, there's a good chance Driscoll will finish in the top 125 on the money list -- but not if he keeps missing cuts the way. He's broken 70 just once in his last 10 rounds and the end of his year is starting to resemble that of his beloved Red Sox. Ben Martin: If there was one player at q-school last year that fellow players thought would have immediate success, it was Martin. But the rookie out of Clemson has made just three cuts since May 1. At 171st on the money list, Martin has an awfully big hill to climb. Jeff Overton: Since tying for third at the AT&T National earlier this summer, Overton has vanished from contention with his best finish a tie for 38th. He has only one other finish in the top 50 and three missed cuts in his last four starts. In his last seven starts, Overton is a combined 29 over.

THE BACK NINE: 9 THINGS YOU NEED TO KNOW

1. Stat of the Week I: 210. That's the number of starts Na had made without a win on the PGA TOUR prior to Sunday's victory. Entering the week, Na, with just over $10.25 million in career earnings, had trailed only Briny Baird and Brett Quigley for most career money earned without a victory on TOUR. With the win, he became the 107th player in TOUR history to cross the $11 million threshold.

2. Stat of the Week II: 16. That's the number of players in their 20s with wins on TOUR this year, which is one more than the number of players in their 30s, when guys are supposed to be in their prime. The last time there were more winners in their 20s than 30s in a season was 2000.

3. Speaking of Na's victory, it comes with his dad battling leukemia. On the Champions Tour, Kenny Perry won a day after losing his sister to breast cancer. Sometimes we forget these guys have lives outside the ropes and are dealing with adversity while inside them. Our thoughts and prayers obviously go out to both.

4. To that point, everything that's gone on for Tiger Woods outside the ropes has obviously affected him inside them the last two years. Having been around the Woods camp a bit, what's gone on inside his head has had as much to do with his struggles as what's gone on with his swing changes. Will he ever be the same player he was from 1999-2009? That may be asking too much, but he doesn't have to be. If he can be 75-80 percent of it, that's still probably better than anyone else.

5. Scary moment for Robert Garrigus last week. What he thought might have been a heart attack turned out to be a severe case of dehydration. Still, he was in the hospital until Wednesday morning and didn't even think he'd be able to play in Las Vegas. "I'm just glad I got to the hospital in time for them to pump me full of fluids because it could've got bad," said Garrigus, who went on to tie for 16th. "I was light-headed and it was off and on. I wasn't thinking right, my brain wasn't working right, nothing was working right. I'm just glad I was able to get to the hospital and get it taken care of."

6. Remember this win by Danny Lee. His victory at the WNB Golf Classic was the 21-year-old's first as a professional. And it didn't come out of the blue -- Lee has played well all year on the Nationwide Tour with seven top-10s, including a runner-up, a third-place finish and now a win.

7. The long putter discussion continues with Darren Clarke telling The Scotsman newspaper, "I can't get too worked up about long putters. And it's too late now to go back. The big recent change is that good putters are using one or other. They're not just for those guys with nowhere else to go." The latter is an excellent point by Clarke, but you can bet they'll be examined by golf's ruling bodies.

8. I got a chance to play the East Course at Merion, site of the 2013 U.S. Open, over the weekend and came away thinking a couple of things. First, the back nine is much more memorable, and I think will be far more difficult, than the front. That's not to say the front nine isn't good -- it is -- but the back nine is just more visually spectacular and interesting. The par-3 17th will also be a topic of conversation with the back tee box stretching to 270 or so yards. Merion's lack of length on the rest of the course will get a lot of attention, too. Tom Fazio has his work cut out to give a very good, very classic course -- situated on just 125 acres -- the length the USGA wants for the Open.

9. By the way, Philadelphia, as we saw the last two years during the AT&T National and its temporary home at Aronimink, is a great golf city with great fans. It will be electric at Merion.

Forward Spin

As mentioned earlier, Tiger Woods will play in a Fall Series event for the first time in his career at the Frys.com Open. He's not the only one looking to do some competitive work on his game, though. Ernie Els is having his worst season of a long and distinguished career and needs all the reps he can get. Els has never finished a season on TOUR without a top-10, but that's what he's staring at right now.

Kodak Challenge

LAST WEEK: Justin Timberlake Shriners Hospital for Children Open NEXT UP: The Kodak Challenge continues this week with the short par-4 17th at CordeValle. Bill Lunde eagled last week to extend his lead to three shots with only three events remaining. Tour of holes | Full Kodak Challenge Standings