And down the stretch they come.
After combining the 2020 and 2021 seasons, the PGA Tour Champions 39-event “super season” has reached the playoffs, with the Charles Schwab Cup Championship capping the postseason.
The Schwab tournament a year ago, which was won by Kevin Sutherland after a nine-hole playoff, didn’t crown a season champion. Because of the COVID pandemic and ensuing schedule shakeup, the senior circuit made the decision to combine the 2020 and ’21 points race into one jumbo affair.
The Charles Schwab Cup Playoffs are similar to the PGA Tour’s FedEx Cup Championship in that it consists of three events and uses the first two to whittle the field down at subsequent tournaments. Unlike the FedEx Cup, where the Tour Championship winner is the FedEx Cup champion, there’s a chance one golfer wins the Charles Schwab Cup Championship but a different golfer wins the season-long Charles Schwab Cup points race.
The playoff events
The playoffs consist of three tournaments:
- Dominion Energy Charity Classic at the Country Club of Virginia in Richmond, Virginia, Oct. 22-24
- TimberTech Championship at the Old Course at Broken Sound in Boca Raton, Florida, Nov. 5-7
- Charles Schwab Cup Championship at Phoenix Country Club in Phoenix, Nov. 11-14
The formats
The Dominion is a 54-hole event with 72 golfers from which the top-54 golfers advance to the 54-hole TimberTech Championship. From there, the top 36 advance to Phoenix Country Club, which puts a bow on the season with a 72-hole tournament. There are no cuts at any of the three events.
Eligibility
Players have been working on making the playoffs over the course of the last two years. Eligibility is based on their positions on the Charles Schwab Cup Money List, which converts money to points.
Bubble boys
Monday qualifier Thongchai Jaidee started the week in the No. 82 spot, well outside the playoff race, but after he poured in a 10-footer for birdie on 18 for a 69, he finished tied for fifth, and that vaulted him into the 72nd and final spot.
PGA Tour Champions: Playoff points standings
Davis Love III also played his way into the playoffs. He started the week No. 75 but finished tied for 20th, which moved him up to No. 71.
Just missing out: Corey Pavin (73), Larry Mize (74) and Jesper Parnevik (75).
At the top end, Bernhard Langer is No. 1, followed by Jim Furyk, Jerry Kelly, Miguel Angel Jiménez, Ernie Els and Kevin Sutherland.
The money
The Dominion and TimberTech will each pay out $300,000 to their winners. At the Charles Schwab Cup Championship, $440,000 will go to winner out of a purse totaling $2.5 million.
The season-long Schwab points winner, meanwhile, will earn a $1 million annuity, to be paid out over 10 years. A total of $2.1 million in annuity bonus money will go to the top-five finishers of the points race, with the second-place finisher earning an annuity of $500,000; third-place, $300,000; fourth-place, $200,000; and fifth-place, $100,000.