PGA Bridgestone Invitational Preview

Every year between the British Open and the PGA Championship, the Tour makes one of its most scenic stops in Akron, Oh., at Firestone Country Club.

A part of the World Golf Championships, the Bridgestone Invitational's star-studded field makes the event essentially a major without the distinction. 

All of the Top 50 players in the World Rankings will be in the 80-player field—Talk about the best competition on the Planet. Even British Open Champ Louis Oosthuizen will stroll the breath-snatching fairways this week.

Tiger Woods has utterly dominated the Bridgestone, winning that cool-looking Gary Player Trophy seven times since the event's inception in 1999, including a four-shot victory last year, when he battled with Padraig Harrington in the final round en route to a Sunday-low 65.

Woods has never finished out of the top five in Akron.

This time around, there's a plethora of players who are geared up to win this youthful but prestigious event.

Anthony Kim is set to return to golf after a four-month layoff, and the 25-year-old's game is primed to shoot low at Firestone. 

It's difficult to bet against guys like Lee Westwood, Rory McIlroy and Paul Casey, who enter the contest playing their best golf.

In all honesty, there's too many solid players at Firestone to even begin to predict a winner.

Even the World's finest, Phil Mickelson and Woods, both of whom have struggled of late, use the super field and demanding layout as a dress rehearsal for the PGA Championship—you can bet they'll be totally locked-in.

Woods' career is littered with epic golf shots, but he's seemingly always found a way to save some of the most epic for his time at Firestone.

A decade ago, in the event's most iconic visual, Woods capped off an 11-shot victory on the final hole, when he hit his approach to within inches in near total darkness.

Last year, he hit a 170-yard 8-iron to tap-in range on the stunning par-5 16th, when Harrington was devoured by the 667-yard herculean hole.

Can Woods return to form at this tournament, and capture his eighth victory at Firestone?

What about Phil Mickelson?

Or will another one of the World's elite shine in one of the PGA's flashiest events?