Haas in the driver's seat at Schwab Championship
By Art Spander, PGATOUR.COM Contributor
SONOMA, Calif. -- They're all competitors. Jay Haas made that point clearly. As if anyone didn't know. Age doesn't matter. Sprit is what counts. Spirit, talent and intent.
This is the final week for the Champions Tour, the last tournament of the year, the biggest tournament of the year, two tournaments in one if you will.
The site is Sonoma Golf Club in the wine country, a course designed by the man, Sam Whiting, who also built Olympic Club, some 50 miles to the south across the Golden Gate Bridge in San Francisco
The Charles Schwab Cup Championship which begins Thursday will have a winner, of course, and it also determines the winner of the Charles Schwab Cup, the year-long race for the Champions Tour's leading player.
And indeed it is a race, with Jay Haas, Fred Funk and Champions Tour rookie Bernhard Langer all with a legitimate chance to win and Eduardo Romero and John Cook, in one of those NFL final-weekend scenario of "ifs'' and "maybes'' with outside chances.
"I think the race has been fantastic,'' said 52-year-old Fred Funk. "I think it will come down to the last putt to decide it. I hope it does.''
Funk held the Charles Schwab Cup lead before last weeknd's AT&T Championship at San Antonio. Funk, however, finished only tied for 36th while Haas came in tied for third and climbed into first place in the standings. If not by much.
"Only 12 points,'' said Haas. "Very negligible. I almost don't feel I have the lead.''
But he does, and Haas, 54, understandably wants to hold it. There's the hardware the champion receives. No less insignificant, there's the $1 million annuity he also receives.
"Any time there's a prize at the end,'' said Haas, "we'd all like to win, whether it be the tournament we're playing that week or in this case the season-long points race.
"I've done that before, and obviously it's a pretty neat thing to see that trophy, to know the accomplishment.''
Haas earned the Charles Schwab Cup in 2006 by a mere 20 points over Loren Roberts. Last year, their positions were reversed, Roberts taking the title by 165 points over Haas.
The Charles Schwab Cup tournament provides two points per $1,000 prize money, meaning the winner here receives 884 points along with the $442,000 check from the $2.5 million total purse.
Haas has the 12-point margin over Funk, with Langer another 96 points behind. Romero is 524 back and John Cook 689. To take the Charles Schwab Cup, either Romero and Cook would need a victory in the 72-hole tournament and also need each of the three players ahead of him to tumble considerably.
Jim Thorpe was the tournament winner last year, and the year before that, 2006. And three years before that, 2003. But Thorpe finished outside the top 30 this time and is absent in 2008.
Only 29 golfers are entered because Tom Watson, a qualifier, at No. 10, is recovering from hip replacement surgery.
In the previous seven years of the Charles Schwab Cup, Watson was the only champion who didn't lead going into the last tournament. That was in 2005 when, triple points being awarded, Watson won the 72-hole event and overtook Dana Quigley in the year-long standings.
"He kind of came out of nowhere,'' recalled Haas. "I'm glad I'm in the lead, but I still have to beat two guys and I can't think about guarding my lead. Otherwise we'll all get passed.''
Funk was second to Thorpe in the tournament last year. Langer who turned 50 in August 2007, is playing for the first time.
"All I can control is my own game,'' said Langer about trying to catch Haas and Funk, "and sometimes I can't control that.
"It could be a very exciting finish, and I'm glad to be among those who have a chance. I do know if I play as well as I can play, I can beat anybody.''
Unfortunately, it doesn't appear the tournament will beat the rain. Late October weather in Northern California is normally beautiful, blue skies, temperature in the low 70s, and that's what it's been the past few days. But the forecast is for an early storm to arrive Friday and stay through the end of play.
The harvest is in, meaning the grape crop won't be affected. But the Charles Schwab Cup is apt to look like a California version of the British Open.
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