FORT MYERS, Florida – Despite pro football dominating sports programing, this week the golf world turns its attention to the PGA Tour Champions as the season concludes with Charles Schwab Cup Championship at Phoenix Country Club November 12-15.
The top 36 players in the Charles Schwab Cup standings earned their place in the 72-hole finale featuring a $3 million purse, while the season concludes with the presentation of the Charles Schwab Cup, the Tour’s season-long points title, and the $1 million bonus that comes with it.
Two players can still win the Cup. Defending Charles Schwab Cup champion Stewart Cink enters the week at No. 1 with a 186,002-point lead over 50-year old rookie Zach Johnson. Cink would become the first back-to-back Cup winner since Bernhard Langer (2014-16) and the eighth player to win it more than once. Johnson, whose six wins this season tie for the fourth-most ever by a rookie, would be the first rookie to win the Cup. Two-time Cup winner Steven Alker (2022, 2024) sits third in the standings but can no longer catch the top two.
Cink is also the defending tournament champion after a two-stroke win over Alker at 20-under 264 a year ago, when he became the fourth player since the Cup was introduced in 2001 to win the season finale and the Cup in the same year (Tom Watson, 2005; Tom Lehman, 2012; Kevin Sutherland, 2017).
Three other past champions also are in the field: Alker (2023), Padraig Harrington (2022), whose 27-under 257 remains the tournament record, and Vijay Singh (2018). Harrington and Singh are two of the four World Golf Hall of Fame members in the field, along with Ernie Els and Retief Goosen. Eight players are making their first Charles Schwab Cup Championship start: the six rookies in the field (Johnson, George McNeill, Rory Sabbatini, Ben Crane, Vaughn Taylor and Darren Fichardt) plus Scott Hend and Bo Van Pelt.
Naples-native George McNeill is having a “monster year” as described by Golf Channel Champions Tour TV commentator Paul Azinger. He ranks No. 6 in Charles Schwab Cup points; has registered 11 Top 10s; 16 top 25s; ranking 11th in driving with a 293.8 average; ranking No. 6 in Greens in Regulation at 74.85%; while banking $1,520,629 so far.
TOURNAMENT FACTS
* Course: Phoenix Country Club, Phoenix, Arizona; par 71, 6,860 yards
* Defending champion: Stewart Cink
* Purse: $3 million
* Winner’s share: $528,000
* Scoring records:
* Low 18-hole score: 60, Jay Haas (2012, Round 2)
* Low 36-hole score: 126, Jay Haas (2012)
* Low 54-hole score: 192, Padraig Harrington (2022)
* Low 72-hole score: 257, Padraig Harrington (2022)
WHERE TO WATCH
Television:
Thursday-Sunday: 5-7 p.m., Golf Channel
https://www.charlesschwabcupchampionship.com/
https://www.pgatour.com/pgatour-champions/schwabcup
