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By Lauren Deason
PGATOUR.com Editorial Coordinator

SONOMA, Calif. -- His ever-reliable flatstick didn't desert Loren Roberts this year.

Roberts: "It was very satisfying to be able to come down and finish it off this year." (WireImage)

Like gophers burrowing into the ground, Roberts' putts scurried into their holes during his final round. He couldn't miss in the beginning, firing off four straight birdies to launch into the top 10 on the leaderboard at the Charles Schwab Cup Championship. In fact, at the pace he was headed, it looked like he might sneak off with two trophies.

He soon cooled, making just one more birdie.

"From the first three rounds this week, I'd gotten off to good starts," Roberts said. "I had been under par after the first three or four holes all week. And I seemed to either have a couple of three-putts or make bogeys or something and kill all my momentum.

"Today, I wanted to go out and get off to a good start and see if I could keep it going. [And] I did. I didn't make a bogey all day long."

His consistency -- both in the season finale and throughout the year -- was rewarded. As the sun set on the 18th green and the 2007 season, Roberts was handed the gold Charles Schwab Cup and a bit of redemption.

It was a sweet moment for the man who had one hand on the handle in 2006 but let it slip away when Roberts, one of the Tour's best putters, missed a short putt on the 72nd hole at the Charles Schwab Cup Championship to lose the season-long race to Jay Haas.

"For me to get up on the last hole [in 2006] and have a chance to do it and have probably the best club in my bag fail on me, obviously that's something that I dealt with in the off-season and part of this year.

"It was very satisfying to be able to come down and finish it off this year."

Since he started the day tied for 18th, Roberts teed off before the leaders and eventually fell to a tie for 13th when the rest of the field was able to capitalize on low-scoring conditions at Sonoma Golf Club.

But it turned out that he didn't even need to work his way into the top 10 -- only players 10th or better earn points each week, with double points awarded at the five majors and the season-ending Charles Schwab Cup Championship -- to retain his lead in the Charles Schwab Cup race.

"My game plan was to start out and try to go 3-under on nine and 6-under I thought would win it," Roberts said, who finished at 11-under par for the week and nine strokes back of tournament champion Jim Thorpe. "I thought if I could make some points out of it, it would be pretty tough even if Brad [Bryant] were to win."

Roberts worked his way to the top of the standings three weeks ago with a win at the Constellation Energy Senior Players Championship. The last month and a half has been "emotional", to say the least, for Roberts, as he caught the seemingly impossible-to-catch Haas, who ran away with it early after earning four Tour wins.

Bryant and Tom Watson also had a chance to take the trophy with a win in Sonoma, Calif. However, Bryant fired off four bogeys, one double bogey and a handful of birdies to shoot a disappointing 1-over-par and fall from a tie for second on Saturday into a tie for 10th place. Haas went the wrong direction as well, needing 73 strokes to get around the course on Sunday which dropped him into a tie for 20th for the tournament.

"I think we kind of walked across the finish line or something," Roberts said. "But it's just a great feeling to get here and to win this, because it's a year-long culmination and I feel like I played very consistently all year and was able to play good at the right times and get in the race."

For winning the Charles Schwab Cup, Roberts earns a $1-million annuity and will likely make a donation to various charities in his current hometown of Memphis, Tenn. In the past two years, he's earned $100,000 and $500,000 for a fifth place finish and a second place finish, respectively, bringing his donation total to $600,000 over those two years.

"That's what it all boils down to...playing for a million dollars on one day. That is what is so exciting about the Schwab Cup, is that it's such a year long thing and invariably it comes down to this last week and it comes down to the last day.

"Something's wrong with you if you say you don't think about it, because obviously you do. You're thinking about it in the very back of your mind and I was very fortunate to be able to focus on my golf game today and get off to a really good start."

Roberts is the fifth different player and the seventh overall to hoist the Charles Schwab Cup, after Allen Doyle (2001), Hale Irwin (2002, 2004), Tom Watson (2003, 2005) and Haas (2006).

With players like Mark O'Meara, Bernhard Langer, Nick Price and John Cook debuting on the Champions Tour in 2007, plus Joey Sindelar, Hal Sutton, Tom Lehman, Fred Couples and Corey Pavin, to name a few, turning 50 during the next two seasons, the 52-year-old Roberts is happy to engrave his name on the trophy before the onslaught of younger talent.

"The competition is going to be looking tougher and tougher as the Champions Tour moves on with a lot of new guys that are coming on. I'm glad to be able to get one now instead of having to wait a few more years."