The Bridgestone Invitational is a World Golf Championship — Woods already has won 11 of those, by the way — which means different things to different players. To some, it’s a short field. To others, it’s an elite field.

To most, it’s free money.

The field is composed of Ryder Cup and Presidents Cup players, along with the top 50 in the world and selected tournament winners from the six main tours around the world.

It adds to 78, everyone from Woods to Shiv Kapur of India, from Phil Mickelson to Gonzalo Fernandez. They will be playing for $7.5 million, with $1.3 million going to the winner and $30,250 for last place.

If there’s pressure, it might fall to the Europeans.

The United States set its Ryder Cup team Monday, with Tom Lehman choosing Stewart Cink and Scott Verplank as his captain’s picks. Europe’s team won’t be determined for another two weeks, ending at the BMW International Open in Germany.

Five players qualify through world ranking points, and the other five from a European tour money list that began last summer. Where it gets tricky is that most Europeans play a full schedule in America and rely heavily on the world rankings. But at a tournament like the Bridgestone Invitational, the money can go a long way.

With so much money on the table, that makes it a big week for Paul McGinley and Jose Maria Olazabal. And with a big field and loads of world ranking points, Carl Pettersson is feeling the heat.

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Pettersson is a Swede by birth who spent his formative years in North Carolina and rarely plays the European tour. He tried to join last year but had to wait until the end of the year, meaning his victory in Tampa and runner-up in the Southern Farm Bureau Classic at the end of last year didn’t count.

“I’ve lost all those points. Otherwise, I wouldn’t be four out,” Pettersson said. “I really need to play well.”

Donald’s tie for third at Medinah moved him to the top of the Ryder Cup list, securing his spot on the team. All he cares about this week is winning, although that might mean going through Woods.

“I’m not trying to beat one person,” Donald said. “It would be ridiculous to say that he’s going to win every event he enters.”

Right now, it only seems that way — especially at Firestone.

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