Champions Tour Insider: Dark horses for Sonoma

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Tim Simpson is one of those on the outside looking in as he chases a spot in the Charles Schwab Cup Championship.

Playing consistently well throughout the season on the Champions Tour certainly has its perks.

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The top 30 players on the Champions Tour money list after this week earn a trip to the California wine country. Like the season-ending PGA TOUR event at Disney World, which is always a favorite for TOUR players with kids, the over-50 group looks forward all season to capping off the year in Sonoma.

There's also the $1 million annuity for the winner of the season-long Charles Schwab Cup race. Loren Roberts holds the top spot in the chase, but he's trailed closely by Fred Funk and Bernhard Langer.

The defending Charles Schwab Cup champion, Jay Haas, sits in fourth followed by John Cook at No. 5. If the race turns out like last year, earning top-10 finishes during the entire season and not just the Charles Schwab Cup Championship is what counts.

"When everything is said and done and you look back on it, it's like NASCAR or whatever, when the guy that's holding the big major trophy at the end, maybe doesn't win the last race. That's a pretty cool thing," Haas said after taking the Charles Schwab Cup title in 2009 despite failing to finish inside the top 10 at the season-ending Charles Schwab Cup Championship.

The top five players in the standings plan to compete this week in the AT&T Championship and will battle for the top spot. But there's another group to watch at Oak Hills C.C. -- the players hovering around the 30th position on the money list who haven't secured a ticket to Sonoma.

Who needs to play their way in with a strong finish this week? We've highlighted the top five players with a shot.

Tim Simpson: One of the Tour's most inspirational players, Simpson underwent nine hours of brain surgery in 2005 to fix a tremor in his left hand. Though he's come close several times, including three top-10s this year, he hasn't won on the Champions Tour, but he played consistently well in 2008 and made it to Sonoma. Can he do so again?

Hal Sutton: Since early September, Sutton has a fifth and a T4 on his resume. Ranked ninth in driving distance and sixth in greens in regulation, he's playing well enough to move up just two spots and earn a place in the top 30.

Fulton Allem: His runner-up showing in his first event of the season got the year off on the right foot, and he needs to finish strong at the penultimate event. Allem doesn't stand out in any one statistical category, but he did tie for 18th at Oak Hills last year so he should feel comfortable enough to make a move.

Craig Stadler: Like father, like son? Both Craig and his son, Kevin, who plays on the PGA TOUR, lost in a playoff this year. Craig also secured a sixth-place finish at the Boeing Classic, so he's just four spots away from the top 30 and in need of one more good week.

Bruce Fleisher: His solo third at the Senior PGA Championship was the highlight of the year for Fleisher, who needs to jump five spots this week. He's ninth in driving accuracy but Fleisher will need to get the putter going (he's 39th in both putting average and scoring average) to contend.