The 2021 Charles Schwab Cup Championship put a cap on the PGA Tour Champions “super” season.
PHOENIX — The 2021 Charles Schwab Cup Championship put a cap on the PGA Tour Champions “super” season.
Phil Mickelson won the season-finale by a shot over Steven Alker. It’s Lefty’s fourth win in six outings on the senior circuit, matching Jack Nicklaus. Mickelson earned $440,000 for the victory at Phoenix Country Club.
Bernhard Langer finished 17th but it was good enough for him to secure the season-long Charles Schwab Cup points title.
Darren Clarke and David Toms finished tied for third at 17 under. Brandt Jobe and Jim Furyk ended up in a tie for fifth.
This was the 20th Charles Schwab Cup Championship. Check out the final payout from the event.
Position
Player
Score
Earnings
1
Phil Mickelson
-19
$440,000
2
Steven Alker
-18
$250,000
T3
Darren Clarke
-17
$192,500
T3
David Toms
-17
$192,500
T5
Brandt Jobe
-16
$138,125
T5
Jim Furyk
-16
$138,125
T7
Paul Goydos
-15
$75,000
T7
Miguel Angel Jiménez
-15
$75,000
T7
Steve Flesch
-15
$75,000
T7
Brett Quigley
-5
$227,813
T7
Stephen Ames
-5
$227,813
T7
Kirk Triplett
-5
$227,813
T13
Doug Barron
-13
$53,750
T13
Vijay Singh
-13
$53,750
T13
Fred Couples
-13
$53,750
T13
Scott Parel
-13
$53,750
17
Bernhard La
-12
$47,500
T18
Ernie Els
-11
$42,500
T18
Alex Cejka
-11
$42,500
T20
Retief Goosen
-10
$29,375
T20
Woody Austin
-10
$29,375
T20
Wes Short, Jr.
-10
$29,375
T20
Kenny Perry
-10
$29,375
T24
Kevin Sutherland
-9
$22,500
T24
Jerry Kelly
-9
$22,500
T24
K.J. Choi
-9
$22,500
T27
Paul Broadhurst
-8
$18,958
T27
Rod Pampling
-8
$18,958
T27
Glen Day
-8
$18,958
30
Dicky Pride
-7
$17,500
31
Colin Montgomerie
-5
$16,875
T32
Tim Petrovic
-2
$15,937
T32
Mike Weir
-2
$15,937
34
Gene Sauers
-1
$15,000
In addition to the tournament payouts, the top-five finishers in the season-long points race earn a chunk of money that will be paid out in an annuity.
Phil Mickelson made his return to Arizona a memorable one while Bernhard Langer made history.
PHOENIX — Phil Mickelson made his return to tournament golf in Arizona a memorable one. Bernhard Langer added another chapter to the history books. Jim Furyk kept things interesting right till the end. It all made for an eventful finish to the PGA Tour Champions season.
Playing in his sixth Champions event, Mickelson won for the fourth time after shooting a final-round 65 at Phoenix Country Club to claim the Charles Schwab Cup Championship for the first time.
Mickelson went bogey-free Sunday with birdies on Nos. 1, 7, 11, 15 and 16 before making a clutch par putt on No. 17. Mickelson closed his round with a birdie on the par-5 finishing hole to get to 19 under, completing his rally from a three-shot deficit to win the tournament. He won by a shot over Steven Alker, who birdied the 18th to finish 18 under. It’s Alker’s 10th top-10 finish in 11 tries since he turned 50 and joined the senior tour.
Meanwhile, by virtue of his final-round 69 and solo 17th-place finish, Langer clinched the season-long Charles Schwab Cup points race for a record sixth time. Langer came into the week leading the points, fell behind to Jim Furyk after the second and third rounds but reclaimed the top spot Sunday. Langer competed in all 39 events during the Champions tour’s “super” season, which combined the 2020 and 2021 campaigns.
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Furyk shot 65-67-65 in the first three rounds and was looking to cap the week with a couple of firsts. He would’ve been the first Champions tour rookie to win the Schwab Cup points title. He also was attempting to become the first golfer to win the season-long title on the senior circuit after winning the PGA Tour’s FedEx Cup, which he did in 2010.
On 18, Furyk stood on the tee box needing an eagle on the par-5 closing hole to get to 18 under and finish solo second. That would’ve been enough to surpass Langer to claim the points race but after driving it in the fairway, Furyk pulled his second into the grandstands down the left side of the fairway.
With Mickelson signing autographs for fans and Langer watching the Golf Channel coverage in the clubhouse, Furyk needed to hole his third shot for eagle to win it but he blasted it well past the hole and watched it nestle in the thick rough off the green. He got up and down for par for a 71 to finish in a tie for fifth with Brandt Jobe.
Darren Clarke made a run up the leaderboard Sunday, closing his round with a birdie on 18 for a 64 to briefly take the clubhouse lead at 17 under. A year ago, after winning the TimberTech Championship, he faced visa issues which kept him from traveling to Phoenix to the Schwab Cup. Clarke finished tied for third with David Toms, who closed with a 65.
Paul Goydos had the round of the day, making a birdie on the last to shoot a 8-under 63 to finish 15 under for the week. The 63 also matches the low round of the week, also shot by Langer on Saturday.
Mickelson will deposit $440,000 into his bank account for the win. Langer claims a $1 million prize to be paid out in an annuity for winning the points.
The 2022 PGA Tour Champions season tees off with the Mitsubishi Electric Championship in Hawaii, Jan. 20-22. The 2022 Charles Schwab Cup Championship will once again be in Phoenix, Nov. 10-13, at Phoenix Country Club.
The combo season also marked the 20th anniversary of the Schwab Cup.
Jim Furyk started the day three shots back but will take a two-shot lead into the final round.
PHOENIX — It was the marquee pairing of the day, as local favorites Jim Furyk and Phil Mickelson teed it up in the second-to-last group in the second-to-last round at the Charles Schwab Cup Championship.
Several hundred fans surrounded the first tee box at the start of their round Saturday at the Phoenix Country Club, a fitting venue for the former Wildcat (Furyk) and former Sun Devil (Mickelson) to do battle.
Furyk, 51, teed off first and went on to eagle the par-5 opening hole. He is one of four golfers still alive in the Schwab Cup race. Mickelson, 51, is not eligible but is seeking his fourth win in six starts on the PGA Tour Champions.
Their on-course battles go back to their college days and continued on the PGA Tour and now the Champions circuit.
“Phil attracts a crowd for sure,” Furyk said. “We’re in Sun Devil country so I heard a lot of ASU out there but Arizona is pretty big and Phoenix is a massive city, so a third of the folks here went to UofA. I’ve seen some support out there as well. It was fun. It’s great to be back in Arizona, it’s great to have that Arizona-Arizona State rivalry. And I’ve known Phil since we were in high school. Good to be out with someone who I played a ton of golf with throughout my career.”
Mickelson produced perhaps the shot of the day on the par-4 12th hole. After bombing his drive well left of the green, his ball settled in the rough in a spot nearly behind the 16th tee box.
Mickelson then pulled off one of his patented flop shots, landing the ball perfectly on the green, where it nestled about two feet away. He would then make the birdie putt to get to 12 under.
Furyk started the day three shots back of Kirk Triplett of Scottsdale. A birdie on nine gave Furyk the outright lead at 14 under. Triplett, who opened the week 65-64, later followed with a birdie of his own on the ninth to get to 14 under. He is seeking his first win in more than two years.
On 15, Furyk almost made an ace on the par-3 hole, although he wasn’t quite sure just how close it was.
“You can’t tell from the tee box,” Furyk said. “I had one that was really close on Thursday, same hole, that Billy Ray [Brown of Golf Channel] said took a peek.”
Furyk closed with three straight pars for a 65 and leads by one after 54 holes at 16 under.
“Scores are low but you want to be patient. You don’t want to force it in there and make stupid bogeys,” he said. “I got myself in a good position.”
Triplett is solo second at 15 under after a 69 and is looking forward to Sunday’s final round in Furyk’s group.
“I haven’t played with Jim in a long time, I am looking forward to it,” Triplett said. “That’s the nice thing about this Champions tour, you get to play with some guys you haven’t played with in a while.”
Stephen Ames shot a 65 to get to 14 under. He is tied for third with Steven Alker, who’s had a meteoric rise on the Champions circuit since turning 50 in July. From New Zealand, Alker moved to Arizona nearly two decades ago, and won last week on the Champions tour, his first win anywhere since 2014. He has posted a top-10 in nine of his last 10 events.
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Mickelson is solo fifth at 13 under after a third-round 68. He closed his round with a birdie on the par-5 18th. He has birdied the hole all three days so far.
The round of the day was recorded by Bernhard Langer, 64, who shot a 63 thanks to a bogey-free day that included four birdies and two eagles, on No. 1 and No. 18. It’s the second time in three months he shot his age or better.
Langer is doing this despite a balky back, which he says started acting up during Wednesday’s pro-am. On Thursday, he admitted he had thoughts of withdrawing, but after talking with his doctor, who said he can’t make things worse, decided to stick it out in his quest for a record sixth Schwab Cup title.
“On this occasion, my doctor assured me I couldn’t do any more damage to it, so that reassured my mind to fight through it, especially Thursday was pretty tough.”
Langer, now tied for ninth at 10 under, came into the week with the lead in the points race but will start Sunday in second.
However, if either Langer or Furyk win the tournament Sunday, they will also claim the Schwab Cup.
Fast forward 10 weeks and Langer did himself one better, eagling the first and last holes at Phoenix Country Club to shoot a 63 in the third round at the season-ending Charles Schwab Cup Championship.
Langer is doing this despite a balky back, which he says started acting up during Wednesday’s pro-am.
On Thursday, he admitted he had thoughts of withdrawing, but after talking with his doctor, who said he can’t make things worse, decided to stick it out in his quest for a record sixth Schwab Cup title.
It’s not the first time he’s battled through an injury.
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“I’ve played in some severe pain when I was younger and that was probably a mistake looking back, but at the time, you know, you fly all the way to Australia and you don’t want to withdraw because you have back pain or something,” he said after Saturday’s round. “I played a number of rounds of golf with a lot of pain, and I can stand pain fairly well, but I’m not sure it’s the smartest thing to do.
“But on this occasion my doctor assured me I couldn’t do any more damage to it, so that reassured my mind to fight through it, especially Thursday was pretty tough.”
Langer was bogey-free on Saturday, with birdies on Nos. 3, 7, 10 and 17 to go along with his two eagles. He’s gone 68-72-63 so far this week and walked off the course tied for 10th, with 18 holes to go.
“I haven’t looked forward to an offseason like this for a long time just because of a few things,” he said. “I’ve been aching and hurting and I played a lot. I played probably more this year than I have in a number of years because my goal was to win the Schwab Cup and the more you play, the more chances you have. So I gave myself the opportunity and now we’ll see what happens.”
Langer’s victory in August ended a winless streak that went back to March 2020. He’s seeking his 43rd overall title since the Champions tour. Only Hale Irwin at 45 has more wins on the senior circuit.
Langer became the oldest winner on the Champions Tour three weeks ago when he won the Dominion Energy Charity Classic in Virginia. He has nine wins in all since he turned 60, which leads the tour.
Langer is already the tour’s leading money winner.
Lefty was back on familiar turf at Phoenix Country Club, shooting a 65 in the first round on Thursday.
PHOENIX — Kirk Triplett, who admits he’s had limited success in the Charles Schwab Cup Championship, is looking to change his fortunes this week at Phoenix Country Club.
The longtime Scottsdale resident backed up his opening round 66 with a 64 on Friday to get to 13 under. He will take a two-shot lead into the weekend as he seeks his first win in more than two years.
“We’re only halfway done,” Triplett stressed after his round. “It’s probably my number one thought. There’s a lot of golf to play. A lot of birdies left to be made.”
Triplett has been playing with an edge for a while.
“I’ve had the juices flowing for the last six weeks, just trying to get to this tournament,” he said. Triplett was 32nd in the points with only the top 36 making this final field. “So I’ve been the guy on the bubble for at least a month. I’ve been playing like I’m winning every single week, like every shot matters so I think that has a lot to do with my good play these last two days.”
Triplett, 59, opened his Friday round with birdies on four of his first six holes and took a two-shot lead over Jim Furyk after making a birdie on No. 12. Another birdie on 14 pushed him three shots out in front. He is seeking his first Champions tour win since he won twice in 2019. His last top-20 was two months ago. His last top-10 was in July. His best finish this season is a tie for second in May.
But he’s come to play this week. So far, he’s 32 of 36 in greens in regulation, tied for second.
“We know where we gotta finish, and nobody’s at that score yet.”
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His second round was an eventful one because of his playing partner, Phil Mickelson.
“My wife and I were talking this morning just trying to remember the last time I played with Phil. It was probably at least 15 years ago.
“He was great to play with, but he’s always been like that. He’s great to his fellow pros. Very talkative, very chatty, grinding away on every shot.”
The final pairing also had a large gallery following it around the course.
“I said that to him on 6 or 7. I said ‘Thank you’ and he said ‘What?’ and I said for bringing these people out,” Triplett said. “We get nice crowds here at Phoenix every year but we got more people than we usually do and he’s the reason.”
Mickelson was among the co-leaders are 6 under after 18 holes and was up past midnight tweeting about bombs.
It’s past midnight here in AZ and I can’t sleep cuz all I can think about is hitting 💣’s tomorrow 🤔
On Friday, Lefty was indeed bombing his drives. On the two holes used this week used to measure distance, Mickelson averaged 310 yards, a healthy 38 yards farther Triplett. Mickelson is averaging 313.8 for the week.
He had three birdies on the front and closed with birdies on Nos. 17 and 18 to get to 10 under, three shots back.
Steven Alker, who beat Jim Furyk by a shot a week ago to win his first Champions event, continues an amazing stretch of hot play. He shot a second-round 65 to get within two shots of the lead. He’s posted eight top-10s in his last nine starts on the circuit after turning 50 in late July.
After going 2,907 days between professional victories, Alker is within striking distance of only having to wait seven more days for his next.
Points leader Bernhard Langer dealt with a balky back for a third straight day but he managed a 1-over 72, dropping him into 31st place.
Prior to his second round, Langer struggled bending over to pick up his ball on the practice green. He then needed a provisional tee shot on the first hole after sending his first shot out of bounds. He later doubled Nos. 14 and 15 before gutting out birdies on 17 and 18.
“Had two out-of-bounds balls and a water ball. I can’t ever remember having two OBs and a water ball in one round as long as my memory goes back, so that’s disappointing,” Langer said. “Made a bunch of birdies and overall I’m still here, so that’s the main thing.”
Thanks to his sizable lead in points, he’ll be in good position for a record sixth Schwab Cup title even with a low finish this week.
Back pain that started Wednesday has only gotten worse for the Schwab Cup points leader.
PHOENIX — Bernhard Langer struggled to finish his first round on Thursday at the Phoenix Country Club. On Friday, he needed to hit a second tee shot at the start of his second round. Blame it on a bad back.
He says it started acting up during Wednesday’s pro-am, and while he said he thought it felt better before the first round, it actually got worse after taking some practice putts.
“I was in a lot of pain. I was this close from pulling out on the second hole,” he said after Thursday’s round. “It was the most pain I’ve had playing golf in 30 years. It was pretty bad.”
Langer managed a 3-under 68 but was in obvious discomfort down the stretch. He said he told his caddie that he “probably shouldn’t even be here right now, but somehow I started praying out there that the pain would subside and I managed to make it through, but it’s not good. Not sure I can do this for four days. Hopefully I’ll feel better tomorrow.”
On Friday, it didn’t seem any better, as Langer was seen on the practice green struggling to pick his ball out of the hole. He also appeared in discomfort on the tee box bending over to pick up his tee.
His playing partner Friday, Ernie Els, also hit a provisional on the first tee, but for Langer, he is giving it a go as he chases a record sixth Schwab Cup title.
Langer became the oldest winner on the PGA Tour Champions three weeks ago when he won the Dominion Energy Charity Classic in Virginia at age 64. He has nine wins in all since he turned 60, which leads the tour. He came into the week atop the standings. Langer leads the tour all-time in money and is second all-time in wins with 42, three behind Hale Irwin’s 45.
Lefty was back on familiar turf at Phoenix Country Club, shooting a 65 in the first round on Thursday.
PHOENIX — During his college days at Arizona State some 30 years ago, Phil Mickelson and his Sun Devil teammates made monthly visits to Phoenix Country Club.
The course has been renovated since then and now hosts the PGA Tour Champions season finale but during Thursday’s first round, Lefty must have had plenty of memories flood back during his seven-birdie, one-bogey opening-round 65 at the Charles Schwab Cup Championship.
“I really had a lot of fun today. The course is in such pristine shape and to play a golf course where you can play some holes aggressive, there are a few parallel fairways, I like that,” Mickelson said. “It allows me to be a little bit more aggressive and play to some safer areas. And then I’m able to take advantage of some short iron play, so I ended up making some birdies.
“This was a good, solid start, but I’m excited to get back out here and make another run at it.”
Mickelson opened with a birdie, had two more before a bogey on No. 8, then had four more on his back nine, including a tap-in on the last. He didn’t sound like he was crazy about his putting on the first day.
“It was okay. I made some good ones on the back nine. I missed some on the front nine, so I’ve got a little work to do. The greens are so perfect, you feel like you should make everyone. The ball rolls so purely on these greens and it’s a matter of matching the speed with the line, reading it right, and getting that good touch. So I’ll have to get a little bit sharper.”
Phil Mickelson signs autographs for fans after the first round of the 2021 Charles Schwab Cup Championship at Phoenix Country Club. Photo by Todd Kelly/Golfweek
Mickelson’s round matched the 65 posted earlier in the day by Kirk Triplett, a long-time Phoenix-area resident.
“I don’t know why everybody doesn’t live in Phoenix, right?” he quipped after his round. “Eighty-five degrees, no wind, perfect conditioned golf course. Why would you live anywhere else? I don’t know what else to say. It was a beautiful day. Scores are going to be good and I’m sure there will be scores lower than mine, but I’m thrilled to shoot 65.”
Playing a home game, though, doesn’t excuse Triplett from some household chores.
“When you’re on the road, you’re just kind of focused on your golf,” he said. “When you’re home, sometimes you’re doing things like cutting up cardboard boxes first thing in the morning to get them in the recycle bin before the trash guy gets there at 6.”
Late in the day, Jim Furyk, second in the standings and playing in the final group with leader Bernhard Langer, stuffed his approach on the 18th hole and then sank his birdie putt to make it a three-way tie atop the leaderboard at 6 under.
“Not a lot of mistakes today,” he said. “Hit a couple bad putts on the back nine on 12 and 15 that bothered me a bit, then a couple bad drives on 17 and 18 but overall I hit the ball extremely well today.”
The former Arizona Wildcat’s final-hole four created a three-way tie atop the leaderboard of golfers with strong local ties.
“That’s a good point, we got Arizona connections all the way around.”
Fred Couples, Steven Alker, Brandt Jobe, K.J. Choi, and David Toms are all tied for second, one-shot back at 5 under.
Bernhard Langer, who leads the standings and is gunning for his record sixth points title, shot a 68 and is 3 under.
Miguel Angel Jimenez and Ernie Els are the other two other golfers in the field with a shot at the title. Jimenez opened with a 1-under 70, while Els carded a 3-under 68.
Kevin Sutherland, who won the tournament a year ago, is T-34, last place, after shooting a 1-over 72. He is one of just four golfers to not break par on Thursday.
He says he likes playing fast and at the Phoenix Country Club, Kenny Perry proved it with a 3-hour round.
PHOENIX — Kenny Perry says he likes playing fast. He proved it on Thursday during the first round of the Charles Schwab Cup Championship.
Teeing off at 10:10 a.m. local time and playing with a marker, Perry zipped around the Phoenix Country Club in just three hours and four minutes.
“I’m a fast player. I get my number I hit the shot and I go. I look at the putt, I hit the putt,” Perry said. “So I don’t really stress over that. So speed to me is more of a relief than a hindrance.”
One thing that helped was making birdies. Perry was 4-under through eight before making what he called terrible bogey on No. 9. He bogeyed Nos. 14 and 15 before making birdies on Nos. 16 and 17. A tap-in par on the last gave him a first-round 68.
Another reason he played so fast? His marker is a really good golfer.
“Kristoffer Marshall, the gentleman that played with me, is one of my dear friends. He’s a member at Silverleaf and he just won the Arizona State Am, so he’s a terrific player in his own right,” Perry said, who got permission for his friend to play this week. “I said ‘Is there any way I could get him to play with me today because I really want to go out there by myself,’ and first they said let us talk about it. Finally they called and said, we’ll let him play with you, but he’s got to agree to be the marker all week.”
Marshall never picked up and holed out every putt.
“I would say he shot around even, even to 2 over, somewhere around in
that area.”
Not a bad way to spend the week, playing four rounds at Phoenix Country Club playing with a PGA Tour Champions golfer. Marshall was unavailable for comment Thursday but he had a good reason: his son Asher is celebrating a birthday Thursday and Kristoffer “just flew out to get to his car to drive 30 minutes away,” Perry said. “Another reason we were playing fast out there, we were running around. I didn’t want him to be really late.”
Perry said he once played a PGA Tour round in about 2 hours, 15 minutes. He doesn’t recall the tournament.
“No. I was by myself. I didn’t even read a putt. I hit it on the green, I told him to take the flag out and I just smacked it and I just went to the next hole. I wasn’t doing any good, I was last place or whatever, going to get last place money.”
Whether he gets last-place money this week or not is still to be determined. What is known is that Perry says he’s ready to step away from the game.
“This is probably my last tournament. I don’t plan to play much next year. Planning to hang the cleats up,” he said. “I may play four, five events just to come back, see the guys. But it’s been good.”
He went on to explain a late surge in his career didn’t allow for much of a break.
“I played my best golf on the PGA Tour age 48 to 50,” he said. “A lot of guys, they kind of lose their card around mid, early 40s, so they have four or five years to do whatever, relax, chill out and get ready for the Champions tour. I never did. I rolled right from the PGA Tour, got my card in ’87, never lost it, rolled right on into the Champions tour.
“I’ve been playing for 40 years, I’m tired. I’m 61, my knees are hurting, my shoulder’s hurt. It’s time, it’s time to go. I’ve got nine grandkids. I’ve got a lot of things I can do.”
Phoenix Country Club is hosting the Schwab Cup, a course Phil Mickelson played in college some 30 years ago.
PHOENIX — Phil Mickelson appearing in Arizona isn’t a big deal, of course. He played golf at Arizona State, lived here for another dozen years early in his career and played in the Phoenix Open a record 30 times.
But appearing and playing at Phoenix Country Club? Mickelson hadn’t played there since the late 1980s and early 90s, when ASU’s team would come over once a month so.
Thirty years or later, that’s about to change. Mickelson is back as part of the field for the Charles Schwab Cup Championship, a stop on the PGA Tour Champions.
Mickelson is 51, which confirms the quote from noted philosopher Ferris Bueller: “Life moves pretty fast.”
For at least another year, Mickelson occupies an odd space in professional golf.
At 51, Mickelson can still win on the PGA Tour, but it requires the bottling of lightning, which he did last May in winning the PGA Championship.
At 51, he’s the favorite to win every Champions tour event he enters. He’s entered five tournaments and won three of them.
Winning is fun and the pay is good: Mickelson made almost $1.1 million in those five appearances.
But the atmosphere and the golf are enjoyable, too. The tournaments are 54 holes, not 72 like the regular tour (the Schwab Cup this week will be 72 holes). The courses are shorter, around 7,000 yards or so (6,853 this week), and more forgiving. Mickelson can out-drive almost everyone else on the Champions Tour, and his short game is still deadly.
Thus, the winning.
Mickelson also is around his people on the Champions tour. A rain delay on the regular tour leads to introductions to new people. A delay on the Champions leads to old stories being told in the locker room.
“I know everybody,” he said. “I go in the locker room and it’s ‘Oh, hey. Great to see you again.’ On the regular tour, there are a lot of guys, I just don’t know who they are because they are so young. They’re talented. They got a lot of game. I just haven’t had a chance to spend time with them.
“Coming out here, seeing so many familiar faces, guys I grew up watching play as a kid and competed against for so many years on the PGA Tour makes it really fun.”
Take, for instance, Ernie Els, who preceded Mickelson in the media availability on Wednesday. Els, 52, said he and Mickelson played against each other for the first time in their early teens.
The Champions tour, Els said, is “in good shape, but a guy like Phil to play full-time would be an unbelievable boost. He attracts a lot of attention wherever he goes. He’s such a draw card. He’ll be an absolute asset to the tour. He’ll be the biggest name out here.”
That won’t happen in 2022. Mickelson enjoys competing against the young and the old, and he plans to bounce between the two tours next year.
Mickelson has not put together his schedule for next year but said “there’s a good chance” he will play in the Waste Management Phoenix Open at TPC Scottsdale, Feb. 10-13. “There’s nothing conflicting. I love coming back here and playing.”
Winning the PGA invigorated Mickelson and germinated hope that another victory or two, perhaps a seventh major, was possible.
After this week, Mickelson plans to put himself through another rigorous fitness schedule to “get the speed back up. It seems as the year goes on, the speed slowly, slowly declines,” he said.
He appears in great shape now, and not just in comparison to his older competitors. But competing on the regular tour requires a different level of conditioning.
“I have to really work hard, now at 51, to try and keep my speed up on the regular tour,” he said. “It’s not easy. Those guys can hit the ball a long ways. Those guys are great players, but when I get a moment like I had in May, it makes it all worthwhile. So I’m going to keep striving to have a few more of those moments.”
Mickelson had a lot of those moments as a senior at ASU and beyond. Now a different kind of senior, he’s hoping for another big moment or two on the regular tour, knowing success awaits him whenever he ages out of it.
The biggest name in the field can win the tournament this week but not the season-long championship.
PHOENIX — It all comes down to this.
After a wrap-around 2020-21 “super season”, the PGA Tour Champions has reached its final destination at Phoenix Country Club for the Charles Schwab Cup Championship.
It’s the third leg of the senior circuit playoffs and the 72-hole event features the top 35 golfers in the standings (the top 36 qualified, but Steve Stricker withdrew earlier this week).
Phil Mickelson is the biggest name in the field but he’s not among the four players who have a chance to win the Schwab Cup and its $440,000 first-place prize.
Lefty has three wins on the circuit in five outings and enters the finale 24th in the standings. He also had, by far, the biggest gallery on Wednesday during the pro-am.
“This is my last tournament of the year, I’m going to shut it down after this,” he said after the pro-am. “I kept playing and working on my game on some areas to make some equipment adjustments for next year. I can’t use them right now because they’re not on the approved list, but I wanted to be sharp. I didn’t want to be trying new stuff when I hadn’t been playing.
“I’ll start working on my fitness again to get speed back up. It seems as though as the year goes on, slowly, slowly the speed starts to decline. So I have to really work hard now at 51 to keep my speed up and be competitive on the regular tour. It’s not easy. … But when I get a moment like I had in May, it makes it all worthwhile, so I’m going to keep striving to having a few more of those moments.”
That moment in May was a big one, with Mickelson capturing his sixth major at the PGA Championship.
Similar to the PGA Tour’s FedEx Cup Playoffs, the Champions’ postseason has three events. Unlike the FedEx Cup, where the winner of the Tour Championship is the FedEx Cup champ, there could be one golfer who wins the tournament this week but another who claims the top season-ending prize.
Who made the final four? Let’s take a look at who has a shot.
Bernhard Langer
Ageless wonder Bernhard Langer, who last month became the oldest player to win on the tour at age 64, is aiming for his sixth Schwab Cup.
“As you get older, there’s more and more young guys coming up that hit it further and they’re really good players and it’ll be tough for me to be in contention year after year so this could be my last chance to ever win the Schwab Cup and it’d be pretty unique to get six of them.”
Bernhard Langer of Germany at the 2021 PGA Tour Champions Dominion Energy Charity Classic at The Country Club of Virginia on October 24, 2021 in Richmond, Virginia. Photo by Ben Jared/PGA Tour via Getty Images
He leads the standings thanks to his two victories and 24 top-10s during this super season. Langer wins the Schwab Cup with a win or even a solo second as long as Jim Furyk doesn’t win. Beyond that, there are several other scenarios where Langer is the champ but those are the most clear-cut.
Jim Furyk
He joined the tour in 2020 but is still considered a rookie during this super season. He finished T-2 last week at the TimberTech Championship. He won three times overall, including his first two times out last summer. He also won the U.S. Senior Open in July.
“You kinda jockey all year to try to get yourself in a good position,” he said after the pro-am. “I do like the position but I do have a lot of work to do.”
He then added that there’s no let up on this tour week in and week out.
Jim Furyk of the United States putts on the 7th green during the first round of the Sanford International Presented by Cambria at Minnehaha Country Club on September 17, 2021 in Sioux Falls, South Dakota. (Photo by Alex Goodlett/Getty Images)
“Every week it’s Bernhard, Ernie [Els], Retief [Goosen], Miguel [Angel Jimenez], Darren [Clarke]. … you just keep going down the list, it’s a bunch of Hall-of-Famers, a bunch of great players, and so I enjoy the competition and enjoy the camaraderie and love being out here.”
Furyk can claim the Cup with a win this week but can also win with a finish as low as T-3. There are a few other scenarios where he can win the big prize but like Langer, a win this week means he wins it all.
Miguel Angel Jimenez
Jimenez is one of two golfers who will need help. He enters third in the standings after he was runner-up last week but does have two wins this season as well as 16 top-10s in 31 starts. For Jimenez to claim the crown, he needs to win and have Langer finish in a three-way tie for sixth or worse.
Ernie Els
Els is fourth in the standings after a season in which he won twice and posted 18 top-10s in 35 starts. He finished T-4 in each of the two playoff events. He needs to win this week and hope that Langer finishes T-7 or worse.
“He’s just dedicated,” Els said of Langer. “Ironman. Loves what he does, obviously, and does it very well and he just sticks with what he does.
“Hats off to Bernhard, he’s been an inspiration to a lot of players.”
In addition to the prize money, there is $2.1 million in annuity bonus money up for grabs for the top-five finishers in the standings. The annuity will be distributed over 10 years. The winner of the Schwab Cup gets $1 million, with second place worth $500,000; third place getting $300,000; fourth place $200,000 and fifth place $100,000.
Phoenix Country Club is a par-71 course that will play 6,853 yards this week.
