Notes: Who will be the Champions Tour's Player of the Year?

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Nov. 4, 2008

Jay Haas collected his second Charles Schwab Cup title this past week by a slim 12 point margin over Fred Funk. That's the closest final margin ever. When Haas won in 2006, he won by 20 points over Loren Roberts. That's the second closest margin in history.

Tom Purtzer won his fourth Driving Distance title this season and second in a row averaging 295.5 yards off the tee. He also won the title in 2003 and 2004.

David Edwards won his third consecutive Driving Accuracy crown hitting 80.0 percent of the fairways.

Ron Streck established a new record for Sand Saves, getting up and down from greenside bunkers 69.6 percent of the time. The old mark was 65.8 percent set by Vicente Fernandez in 2000.

• Who will win the Jack Nicklaus trophy for being the Player of the Year? Take a look at the four contenders:

funk.jpeg

Player: Fred Funk
Starts: 18
Wins: 2
Top 10s: 9
Charles Schwab Cup Finish: 2
Money List Finish/Earnings: 3/$1,825,931
Why Funk should win: He won his first major ever at the JELD-WEN Tradition this season and finished second in Charles Schwab Cup points. Considering he split his time between the PGA TOUR and Champions Tour, plus had to battle back from surgery after participating in this year's PLAYERS Championship, Funk is an impressive candidate.

haas.jpeg

Player: Jay Haas
Starts:21
Wins: 2
Top 10s: 14
Charles Schwab Cup Finish: 1
Money List Finish/Earnings: 2/$1,991,726
Why Haas should win: Haas captured his second Charles Schwab Cup trophy in three seasons and was second on the money list in 2008, which means he was one of the most consistent players this year. Though he didn't win as many titles as Bernhard Langer or Eduardo Romero, Haas did earn his second career major at the Senior PGA Championship this season.

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Player: Bernhard Langer
Starts: 20
Wins: 3
Top 10s: 14
Charles Schwab Cup Finish: 3
Money List Finish/Earnings: 1/$2,035,073
Why Langer should win: Langer is up for several end-of-year awards since he is both a rookie on the PGA TOUR and was one of the year's top players. He also won the Money List title, thanks in part to his three victories this season. Two of his wins came in March then he notched another one in October to cap off a spectacular first full season.

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Player: Eduardo Romero
Starts: 18
Wins: 3
Top 10s: 7
Charles Schwab Cup Finish: 4
Money List Finish/Earnings: 7/$1,615,099
Why Romero should win: Romero didn't finish as high in the Charles Schwab Cup race or in the race for the top honors in the Money List race, but he did have three wins. One of those was a major, as Romero emerged victorious in the U.S. Senior Open. Romero turned his game around in the middle of the season and rattled off three quick victories.

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