This fortnight is possibly the most important stretch of the season for golfers on both the PGA and the European Tour.

This week is the World Golf Championship-Bridgestone Invitational, a $9 million (Dh33 million) tournament in Akron, followed by the final major of the season — the PGA Championship, which is being played at Valhalla this year.

A lot of things for a lot of players depend on the outcome of these two tournaments.

For those on the PGA Tour, this will be the last chance to cement their place for the lucrative FedEx Cup Playoffs. For the European Tour stars, who are also members of the PGA Tour, these two weeks can secure them a high position in the Race to Dubai and ease their schedules in the lead-up to the DP World Tour Championship in Dubai.

But more than anybody else, the spotlight will be on Tiger Woods. That’s because these are the only two events he has in his schedule to qualify not just for the FedEx Cup — where he is 215th on the points list and needs to be inside the top-125 to make it the field of the first playoff event — but also for trying to automatically qualify for the US Ryder Cup team.

Honestly, I am still not expecting Woods to win in any of these two weeks, even though he has such a fantastic record at Firestone Country Club, which hosts the Bridgestone Invitational. He has won the tournament a whopping eight times out of 16, and has more than a dozen of top-fives.

Despite his past achievements here, I know how difficult it is to come back from a back surgery that completely ruled out any golf for almost three months. He is getting back into the groove and the four rounds on Firestone (there is no half-way cut in WGC events) should give him the kind of competitive outings his game desperately needs at this stage.

In the absence of at-the-top-of-his-game Woods, there are several contenders who can win at Akron, but I like the chances of the top three players in the world rankings — Adam Scott, Rory McIlroy and Henrik Stenson.

Scott played brilliantly in winning the tournament a couple of years ago, and has been playing very consistent golf with top-10s in each of his last four starts. McIlroy was imperious in winning the Open Championship and he would not have lost his form or confidence in the 10 odd days since then. Stenson played very well in finishing second to Woods last year, and I always like his chances because he is able to find so many greens in regulation.

Among other players worth following at Firestone are Rickie Fowler and Matt Kuchar, who are both playing some very good golf.

— Jeev Milkha Singh is a four-time champion on the European Tour