(Sonoma, CA) – Jay Haas was the beneficiary of an uncharacteristic miss of a short putt by Loren Roberts on the 72nd hole of the Champions Tour’s season-ending event, the Charles Schwab Cup Championship, and won the Charles Schwab Cup today. The Cup win earned Haas a $1 million annuity from Charles Schwab & Co. Inc. It was the closest race in the six-year history of the competition.
Haas announced at the closing ceremony he would donate the $1 million to charities in his hometown of Greenville, SC, a gesture made in recent years by Allen Doyle, Tom Watson and Dana Quigley.
Haas and Roberts see-sawed for the Cup lead much of the day as they had throughout 2006. There were four lead changes on Sunday, with Roberts, who was in the last group, assuming the lead with a birdie on the 16th hole. He came to the 18th hole with a 16-point lead, needing only par to capture the Cup, but three putted from 56 feet, missing a four-and-a-half foot par putt that would have clinched the Cup.
The duo had competed for the Charles Schwab Cup lead all year, so it was fitting the two competitors entered the Champions Tour finale as the only players with a chance to win the Cup. Roberts came to Sonoma Golf Club trailing Haas by only 126 points despite leading the race after 19 of 27 tournaments. In capturing the Cup, Haas ended up leading the points list after nine events. They were the only two to lead the Cup race. With double points available for only the sixth time this year, both players knew the circumstances they faced this week. Haas’ T6 finish, coupled with Roberts’ T4 finish, made for the slimmest of victory margins.
"It was a goal of mine at the start of the year to lead the money list and win the Schwab Cup," said Haas. "I think about the entire year and how thrilling it is to be the Charles Schwab Cup champion. It’s amazing that our entire year came down to the final shot of the season.
"I have mixed emotions," Haas added. "I didn’t play very well today. I want to congratulate Loren. I think he played awfully well this year. He was up there every single week. He had one hand on the Cup, too.
"My wife, Jan, and I have been talking about donating the Schwab Cup money for a while now," said Haas. "Allen Doyle set the precedent a few years ago, which was unbelievably generous on the part of him and his wife (Kate). Then Tom Watson and Dana Quigley made donations with their Schwab money. We’ll be donating ours to charities in Greenville."
Roberts collected the runner-up annuity of $500,000.
Rounding out the top five were Tom Kite ($300,000), Brad Bryant ($200,000) and Jim Thorpe and Eduardo Romero ($50,000), who tied for fifth.
Roberts got off to the best start in Champions Tour history, becoming the first player to win the first three events of the year. The Germantown, TN resident led the first 11 weeks of the year, notching top-10 finishes in each of his first eight starts. Roberts’ largest lead of the year was 554 points after the AT&T Classic in early March.
Haas took over the Cup lead with his victory at the Senior PGA Championship in May, the first major of the Champions Tour season, and his third consecutive win. Haas led the race for the next six weeks, with Roberts retaking the lead with his victory at the Senior British Open Championship in July. Roberts led throughout the rest of the summer with Haas chipping away. Haas finally regained the lead with his victory earlier this month at the SAS Championship in Cary, NC.
A nine-time winner on the PGA TOUR, Haas built on the success he experienced in 2005 when he earned Champions Tour Rookie of the Year honors. The St. Louis, MO native won four times in 2006. He also enjoyed his most lucrative year as a professional, earning $2,420,227 to win the Arnold Palmer Award as leading money winner. Since turning 50 in December of 2003, Haas has won six Champions Tour events, including his first major at this year’s Senior PGA Championship, and has earned nearly $4 million.
The Charles Schwab Cup is a season-long points-based program designed to identify the Champions Tour’s leading player. The program rewards both top finishes week-in and week-out at all 28 official/Charles Schwab Cup events. Points are awarded to the top-10 finishers and ties and are based on the money distribution for each tournament with every $1,000 earned being the equivalent of one Charles Schwab Cup point. Points are doubled at the Champions Tour’s five major championships as well as at the season-ending Charles Schwab Cup Championship.
The final Charles Schwab Cup standings are:
Rank/Player/Events Points Points Behind No. 1
1 Jay Haas 3,053 –
2 Loren Roberts 3,033 20
3 Tom Kite 1,910 1,143
4 Brad Bryant 1,685 1,368
T5 Jim Thorpe 1,546 1,507
T5 Eduardo Romero 1,546 1,507
7 Bobby Wadkins 1,511 1,542
8 Gil Morgan 1,488 1,565
9 Allen Doyle 1,187 1,866
10 Tom Watson 1,186 1,867
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ABOUT THE CHAMPIONS TOUR
The Champions Tour is a tax-exempt membership organization of professional golfers age 50 and older. Conceived in 1980 as the Senior PGA Tour, it started with just four events and purses totaling $475,000. The Champions Tour will feature a minimum of 29 official Charles Schwab Cup events offering $54.1 million in prize money in 2007 and its highest average purse ever of $1.86 million. The Champions Tour’s primary purpose is to provide significant competitive and earnings opportunities for players age 50 and older; to protect the integrity of the game; and to help grow the reach of the game in the U.S. and around the world. In addition to providing competitive opportunities for its membership, Champions Tour events also generate significant sums of money for charity. The commissioner of the PGA TOUR is Tim Finchem. Rick George is president of the Champions Tour. TOUR headquarters is in Ponte Vedra Beach, Florida. Our web site address is PGATOUR.com.
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