Backspin: One week won't tell the story for Tiger

How will Tiger Woods fare in his first tournament since pulling out of THE PLAYERS Championship? What state is his left knee and Achilles in? Is he coming back too soon? Will he ever be the player he once was?

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Those are just some of the questions surrounding Woods as he returns from an 11-week layoff for this week's World Golf Championships-Bridgestone Invitational, a tournament Woods has completely dominated with seven career wins.

Yet there are so many questions and so few answers. Some of those, however, will of course get answered this week.

Woods only recently began hitting balls again, and on Friday, he met with his coach, Sean Foley, to talk about the game plan going forward.

If Woods is 100 percent healthy -- a big if considering all the years of injuries on his 35-year-old body -- it shouldn't take long for him to start performing the way we've all become spoiled to him doing. If he's not, then it will take longer.

The latter is something Woods has talked about frequently. Needing time to heal, needing time to implement the swing changes he's been working on, needing time for his short game to come around because he hasn't put as much practice or emphasis on it as he has in the past.

Is that time now? It may be, but one week won't tell the full story. Remember, he hit it as well as he ever has earlier this year at the Masters, but he had to shut it down a month later because of the injuries he re-aggravated that week.

It's a good sign for Woods, and golf, that he's able to play this week, and next at the PGA Championship, but it's only the first of what will be many small steps for Woods in the weeks and months ahead.