Just before Scott McCarron turned 50, he met the coach who would help transform him into the prolific winner he is today.

It took work, of course, but now McCarron is on the cusp of winning his first Charles Schwab Cup – and he has E.A. Tischler to thank.

Tischler is the Director of Instruction at Olympia Fields Country Club (the club, just south of Chicago, has hosted four major championships, the 1997 U.S. Senior Open and the 2017 KPMG Women’s PGA Championship) and has worked with McCarron for nearly five years.

They began while McCarron was still getting a few exemptions on the PGA TOUR and Korn Ferry Tour, preparing to join PGA TOUR Champions.

In just eight starts after turning 50, McCarron missed the Charles Schwab Cup by under $10,000 thanks to three top-10 finishes in those eight tournaments.

There was a plan in place, Tischler says, and now it’s all a matter of continuing to follow through on it.

“The next year on the Charles Schwab Cup standings he finished fourth, then third, then second… and now we’re hoping it all works out this week and he gets to close it out,” says Tischler.

Indeed, McCarron is in prime position to take home his first Charles Schwab Cup at the end of this week in Phoenix as the 2019 season comes to a close. He’s about 170,000 points ahead of No. 2 Jerry Kelly, but multi-time Charles Schwab Cup winner Bernhard Langer is nipping at his heels, too.

McCarron has had a masterful 2019 season so far, with three wins, three runner-up finishes, and 14 top-10 results in 25 events.

But getting across the finish line and hoisting the Charles Schwab Cup remains something that’s eluded him.

“Even on PGA TOUR Champions, now that he’s winning… to win the Charles Schwab Cup is a whole other level,” says Tischler. “He really wants it. He has a lot of desire. He works hard and sometimes that want can get a little too strong and you put too much pressure on yourself and the old habits start creeping in.

“We’ve seen some of that in the last couple weeks,” Tischler admits.

Last week, for example, McCarron finished T43, his worst finish since a T66 at the Regions Tradition. He shot a 77 that week, tied with the final round last week at the Invesco QQQ Championship for his worst of the year.

But Tischler, who has also led Brandt Jobe and Tom Pernice Jr. to the PGA TOUR Champions winner’s circle, says he and his pupil are working hard on getting back into their normal routine.

“Right now he’s drifting off to a direction where he’s having trouble getting back on his own. We’ve had to talk a lot about how to do that. Especially with the pressure of the (playoffs) on but he’s doing a great job of it,” says Tischler. “He’s really keeping a good attitude and working hard and knows what he needs to do. Now it’s just a matter of getting it done.

“We want him to be focused on doing what you need to do to win a tournament. You go out and set a plan for that course and that tournament and your job is to execute on that plan.”

Tischler, who has written 28 books on the golf swing and approach to the game, says he helps McCarron with the long game, the short game, and the mental game of golf.

That started making a difference a couple of years ago, Tischler says, as with student and teacher focusing on the process, the results came fast and furious.

“He said to me at the time, 'if we did this a year ago it wouldn’t have done me any good. I would have stepped up there with a new routine and the same old s----- swing would have come out,'” says Tischler, with a laugh.

But now McCarron has a solid swing and an even better approach to strategy and process. It’s resulted in five wins on PGA TOUR Champions the last two years and McCarron becoming a threat to win every time he tees it up.

There is still, however, one thing missing from his laundry list of accomplishments: a Charles Schwab Cup.

It’s different this time around, though, and Tischler believes his student has what it takes.

“The better he is at being present, amongst all that’s going on, the better he does,” says Tischler. “If he does that he’s the best player out there, so he’s going to get it done.”