Who on PGA TOUR Champions can stand up to a “tale of the tape” against Bernhard Langer?

Honestly, no one. Even at the age of 61, the German still is the man to beat. True, his 2018 hasn’t been quite as dominant as past years. But he still enters the season-ending Charles Schwab Cup Championship in the pole position.

Langer has 38 PGA TOUR Champions titles on his resume. Saying he knows how to win is like saying Andrea Bocelli can carry a tune.

He added two more victories this season, at the Insperity Invitational in April and the SAS Championship in October. He also had six runner-up finishes and 14 top 10s.

Yet there is something inside that last sentence from which other players gained hope. Prior to this season, Langer had 36 wins and 27 seconds in his Champions career. But two wins and six runners-up just doesn’t have the same air of invincibility.

Langer also had the two worst finishes of his Champions career in consecutive weeks in March. He was unrecognizable in going T54 at the Cologuard Classic and that with a 58th place at the Toshiba Classic.

He has been on an absolute tear in the 18 events since the Toshiba. His worst finish was a T17 at the Constellation SENIOR PLAYERS Championship. That’s why he’s No. 1 now. He grinded and he righted himself. And that is a surprise to no one.

His closest pursuer for the coveted Charles Schwab Cup is a bit of a surprise, perhaps even to himself. Scott Parel, 53, doesn’t have the pedigree of Langer, a major champion and Hall of Fame member. Langer already had both of his Masters victories (1985, 1993) before Parel even tried his hand at pro golf (1996).

Just this week Golf Digest said of Parel “even the description journeyman was a stretch.”

Parel is a humble, unassuming guy who got a degree in computer science at Georgia while not playing on the Bulldogs golf team. He thought about walking on, figured the time commitment would be too much, and decided to concentrate on his studies. In 2016 he Monday qualified for Champions Tour events on six consecutive tries, and that gave him the confidence to know he belonged out here.

In his sixth start of 2016 and his first in a PGA TOUR Champions major, he finished T7 at the Senior PGA Championship presented by KitchenAid. Since then he has 19 top 10s in 57 events, including his breakthrough victory at this year’s Boeing Classic and a win last week at the Invesco QQQ Championship.

So here he stands, second in the Schwab Cup standings, sandwiched between Langer and Miguel Angel Jimenez, another European with a pedigree that dwarfs his.

Humbled? Sure. Scared? Nope.

These guys have been playing against each other and the best players in the world when they were younger and here I am only in my third year,” Parel said after his recent victory. “It doesn't … I don't know about surreal, but sometimes I have to pinch myself, yeah. I'm just so blessed to be able to do this at this point in my life and to be successful at it.

“I've worked hard, but a lot of guys work hard and they don't get this. So for whatever reason, it's doing right at the right time, it's working out.”

One of the reasons Parel has greatly improved is his putting. In 2016 he ranked 43rd in putting average. In 2017 he was seventh. This year he’s second. He has become as comfortable over a 6-footer for par as he is over his trusty laptop.

“When you're putting well, it doesn't put as much pressure on your chipping, on your bunker game,” Parel said on Sunday. “I mean, if you feel like you've got to hit it a foot every time, it makes it a little more difficult. But I feel like from inside 10 feet, I don't know what my statistics would be inside 10 feet this week, but I don't think I missed too many. I feel pretty confident I can get the ball inside 10 feet most of the time. Like I said, when you're putting well, I think the rest of your short game looks pretty good.”

Below is a brief statistical comparison between Langer and Parel.

They rank 1-2 in birdies, Parel with the slight edge. Parel is the longer hitter, Langer the straighter hitter. Langer actually has more eagles this year, nine vs. just five for Parel.

Parel has come from off the pace in both of his victories. Langer has won in all fashions, but he’s more of a frontrunner. If he gets a lead he’s less likely to make a mistake and relinquish it. He will make Parel and anyone else come after him.

It all points to a great showdown in Phoenix for the Schwab Cup.