The end is near.

With Firestone hosting this week’s limited field World Golf Championship-Bridgestone Invitational, and Reno, Nev., hosting the Barracuda Championship, it marks the second to last non-major tournament prior to the FedEx Cup playoffs.

After this week, golf will shift to Valhalla in Kentucky for the PGA Championship and then the top-125 in the FedEx Cup standings will slide over to North Carolina for the Wyndham Championship. There’s not a whole lot of time to make a move, so the finishes on display this week will have significant repercussions on the overall standings. And a hot run of play starting Thursday is enough to carry someone through, all the way to the TOUR Championship in Atlanta.

I won’t go into details on the Barracuda Championship, won last year by Gary Woodland, but feel free to discuss in the comments below or fire away to me on Twitter.

As for the premier event, the WGC-Bridgestone Invitational has no cut and that’s noteworthy since daily fantasy leaguers won’t miss out on points unless someone just tosses out a dud of a round.

At 7,400 yards, Firestone’s par-70 South course is a challenge, and it’s been one met handily by those that can score on the par-5s and birdie the limited opportunities provided on the par-4s.

Let’s break down the field trying to tackle “The Monster” a little bit further for fantasy purposes in this week’s edition of Risk, Reward, Ruin.

RISK

There’s a name in the mix this week that will be impossible to shake as you pull up past leaderboards: Tiger Woods. That’s because he’s won at Firestone eight times in his career, is the defending WGC-Bridgestone champion and has made over $11 million in his lifetime on the course. But just because someone’s track record is good does that make them a front runner. It’s not too late to have a good week and spark things, but you’d hope there have been at least a few signs of life in that golfer’s game to validate a selection. If they’ve struggled all year, they’re probably not going to suddenly turn it around this week. For daily leaguers, you can get away with being riskier. Here’s five to show trepidation over this week.

Tiger Woods

It sure is weird to start with Woods as a risk when mentioning Firestone, but given how he’s owned Bay Hill in his career and didn’t challenge there because of rust, it’s likely wiser to slot him here. Make no mistake, Firestone fits his eye, and when you’re waiting for your game to come back around, a comfortable setting where you know what to expect could be just what the doctor ordered. Really, Tiger just needs to play and he gets four rounds to do so this week. You saw the 3-under start he had at The Open, so he’s more than capable. From day to day is where it will change. He’s probably more of a Day 2-4 start than on Day 1.

Jim Furyk

It’s not that Furyk isn’t worthy of being a top choice, but when you can’t close out tournaments with a 54-hole lead, well, your value does diminish. And in the case of last week’s missed opportunity at the RBC Canadian Open, Furyk has yet another blown win to contend with in his mind. Still a model of consistency, Furyk has seven top-10s this year and has four rounds to play any bad out of his thoughts. He has a T9, T2 and T6 finishes in three of his last four starts at Firestone.

Jason Dufner

With four top-10s and six top-25s in 15 starts, Dufner hasn’t been bad, but he hasn’t been great either. But this is also the time of year when he seems to play his best golf. He tied for fourth last year after entering in similar form, then went on to win the PGA Championship the next week. Dufner also finished solo seventh in 2012, but those are his only two starts so we don’t yet know whether this is a standing pattern for him or just a bit of luck at the right time. With no cut, it’s a decent gamble.

Hideki Matsuyama

Matsuyama made his debut at Firestone last year and finished T21, shooting 72-68-70-71. What’s nice this year is he’s begun displaying what had been captivating people and called to attention his big talent. A win at the Memorial at the beginning of June highlighted his ascension. He has four top-10s and nine top-25s this season. What I like for this course is he is sixth on tour in par-5 scoring and fifth in birdie average, making him tantalizing in a no-cut situation.

Martin Kaymer

Kaymer underwhelmed at The Open, but he’s otherwise been handing out beatings when matched up with the world’s best. With a T9 last year as he returned to form in his golf game, I find no reason to believe he won’t be better this year. This year’s PLAYERS and U.S. Open champion has been stellar on approach, especially from longer distances. That should match well this week at Firestone, where his putting stroke is reminiscent of Woods’ last year, when he didn’t need par-5 scoring to win.

REWARD

There’s a lot of good golfers in the field and Yahoo A is particularly stacked with plenty of good options. With no cut, margins get tighter and a risk can play like a reward and vice versa. If you expect something stellar, that’s when you usually wind up disappointed. But the proven track records at Firestone is what carries these golfers through, if not their proven elite level of play. Well, for several anyways. One thing you can’t shy away from is a hot golfer or one motivated by things like making the Ryder Cup team. Here’s five strong selections this week that stand out.

Adam Scott

Still the No. 1 ranked golfer in the world, Scott will have to fend some good guys off to keep that title. The good news for him is he won the WGC-Bridgestone in 2011 and has T4, T9, and T5 finishes since he won the Crowne Plaza Invitational. Two of those top-10s are in majors. Scott tied for 14th last year, and in his winning year opened with a 62 and closed with a 65. He also has a T9 (’10) and there’s clearly nothing scary about Firestone to him, not when you rank third in birdie average and first in par-5 scoring.

Henrik Stenson

Stenson’s run to a FedEx Cup title last year started with a solo second at The Open and ran smack dab into a T2 at Firestone. While he enters off a T39 from Hoylake, he also has a T4 at the U.S. Open in his last start on American soil. Solid on approach, Stenson needs some work on the greens, but finds a way to score. Best of all, he capitalizes on par-5s, ranking second on Tour behind Scott in birdies in that department.

Ryan Moore

Arguably the hottest golfer in the fielder, Moore enters having posted T5, T7 and T12 finishes in his last three starts. He ranks seventh in GIR and is getting it done with par-4 scoring. His par-5s lead something to be desired, but it doesn’t mean he won’t convert. During his tournament at TPC River Highlands, he made two eagles, two birdies and no bogeys on the par-5s. Moore opened with a 66 last year before fading, in 2011 posted 66-66 to start before going above par, and in ’10 finished T16. Decent track record meets hot streak, which bodes well for Moore this week.

Keegan Bradley

Only two starts for Bradley at Firestone. One is a win in 2012 and the other is a T2 last year. Is this a course that suits his eye and game? I don’t know how to answer that question other than to say he’s motivated to win now and claim a Ryder Cup spot. Enters having finished T4 at The Greenbrier and T19 at The Open, and Bradley has 11 top-25s on the season. Scores well on par-4s and par-5s, but has been undone by touch around the green. I’m inclined to believe he likes the South course and will put up a good number.

Rory McIlroy

Oh, did you think I’d leave McIlroy out? No way. Coming off his British Open win, the No. 2 golfer in the world wants to overtake Scott and little if anything in his game is off. One more win and he’s probably the player of the year given he’s seven top-10s already. He’s played Firestone five times and has three top-10s– T5, T6, T9– to boast of. Even when he was off last year he finished in the upper half of the field (T27). I’m not sure how you keep him out of your lineup at this point except if you’re running low on starts or need to be very risky this week. He’s second in par-4 birdies and fourth on par-5s with the distance and accuracy to keep on rolling.

RUIN

In a small field, there are bound to be those that just struggle due to the weight of the competition. And then there also those that could get beat up a bit by Firestone’s length. You can’t go wrong with those names you just know will compete or score at some point, but hampering your lineup with guys who have yet to show consistency is a good way to drop points in a week where everyone should be bunched together. Here’s five I don’t like this week.

Russell Henley

Henley is in the field on the strength of his playoff win at the Honda Classic in March, but he’s also missed 11 cuts this year. His last nine tournaments consist of six missed cuts and only five rounds in his last 25 have been shot in the 60s. Henley enters off a 75-80 MC at The Open to play a course where he shot 72-69-75-66 in his debut. That was a bit erratic for a guy who was in much better form in his rookie year. He’s also not scoring on par-5s and has more work to do off the tee to get in position for birdies.

Luke Donald

Donald is easily one of the shortest hitters on Tour and is scuffling a bit late. He missed the cut at the U.S. Open, T64 at The Open and missed the cut last week in Canada. Donald has T9, T8 and T2 finishes in his last three tries at Firestone, so this can seem like a stretch for inclusion, but I still think he’s going to get swallowed up by the course this time. Right now, he’s 170th in driving distance, 129th in GIR and 164th in par-4 birdies. If he’s not scoring on those tighter tracks, he’s not going to do it here.

Brian Harman

Harman is like a lesser Luke Donald. While he got his first win at the John Deere Classic, that was hardly the test this will be, especially stacked up against this field. Ranking 114th in par-5 birdies, he’s going to need to be excellent in every aspect of his game and nail a lot of putts in order to get in the top 25 in his debut. The upside for picking him this week just isn’t there.

Matt Every

We haven’t heard much from every in a while, not since he won the Arnold Palmer Invitational. He put up four MC’s and a WD in the six weeks after that win before finding a T3 in Memphis. Then he promptly missed the cut, went T39 at Congressional and finished 71st at The Open. This is also his debut year, so there will be a learning curve. While he ranks first in strokes gained putting, he’s 133rd in driving distance, 155th in driving accuracy, 103rd in GIR and needs work on par-4s. He’ll probably settle in around 40th for this tournament, but that won’t get it done in fantasy circles.

Jonas Blixt

Blixt’s tie for second at The Masters is beginning to look more and more like a stroke of luck every day. He has four missed cuts in six starts on the PGA Tour since. His Euro golf was fine, except for an MC at The Open. He got to play Firestone last year on the strength of his Greenbrier win and finished back of the back after rounds of 70-75-73-72. With nine total cuts missed this year, driving accuracy that ranks 160th, a greens in regulation rank of 144th and a definite struggler on scoring in general, Blixt should be off your radar for fantasy purposes.

This just hasn’t been my year for picking the best daily rounds. And I’m finding I’ve got a bad case of the Furyks. Despite having the exact same lineup as my nearest challenger for the RBC Canadian Open, I lost 60 points from my overall lead and now have just a 50-point cushion. I need the bleeding to stop to hold this 54-hole lead, hence my picks suggest a bit of a change from the chalk mentality in order to find something lost. If you’d like to discuss the WGC-Bridgestone Invitational or the Barracuda Championship, you can comment below or find me on Twitter @bricmiller. Best of luck on your week and as always thanks for reading!

This week’s picks

Yahoo!

Group A: A. Scott (S), H. Stenson

Group B: R. McIlroy (S), M. Kaymer (S), H. Matsuyama, K. Bradley

Group C: L. Oosthuizen (S), V. Dubuisson

(Last week: 140 points; Summer segment: 741; Summer rank: 34,804; Season points: 4,507; Full Season rank: 3,195 – 95th percentile)

PGATour.com

H. Stenson, M. Kaymer, R. Moore, H. Matsuyama

(Last week: 375 points; Season: 7,653; Rank: 3,607)

Golf Channel

WGC-Bridgestone Invitational

Group 1: H. Stenson

Group 2: K. Bradley

Group 3: R. Moore

Group 4: L. Oosthuizen

(Last week: $26,980; Season: $13,963,162; Mulligan: $26,980; Rank: 8,916 of 40,868)