Charles Schwab Cup Championship, Tom Lehman Triumphs

Tom Lehman/ Chris Condon/PGA Tour

Triumphant Tom Lehman became the first ever back-to-back winner of the Charles Schwab Cup Championship, with a final round of -5 under par 65 and a tournament total of -22 under par, six shots clear of his nearest rival. In doing so Tom also picked up the Charles Schwab Cup, the season long points race, coming into the tournament Bernhard Langer was leading that points race, that was until Tom blitzed the Desert Mountain Cochise Course. Tom’s spectacular performance included a 47 hole bogey free run from the back of the 1st round to the turn of the 4th and final round. Tom needed to win this tournament, to have a chance of winning the season long title race, he did, and admits this is a dream come true week;

“ There’s a lot of times in this world where you need to play well and you don’t. This is one of those weeks where I needed to and I did. All in all, it’s a bit of a dream-come-true week.”

Tom’s  longtime teacher and mentor Jim Flick is battling terminal pancreatic cancer, Tom spoke to Jim briefly before the last round on Sunday. Jim had some special words of wisdom for him;

 ”Be Tom Lehman.”

Tom recalled the many times he and Jim had spent time together on the driving range at the Renegade Course at Desert Mountain;

“We probably spent half an hour just back there hitting shots, those are the kind of things you think about. But the more I thought about that, the more teary-eyed I would get. I decided I can’t play this round of golf with tears in my eyes. I have to wait until business was finished. The last hole, I know that he was probably watching today. I felt quite certain that was probably the last driver he was ever going to see me hit and I wanted to make it a good one. And the last 7-iron he will ever see me hit, and I wanted to make that a good one. And the last putt, I wanted to make that putt.”

When it was all over and Tom had secured victory, he had a few moments alone with his head pushed deeply into his white Taylot-Made hat, before being surrounded by family and fellow professionals.

In the tournament, Jay Haas finished in second place alone, after a last round of -1 under par, and a total of -16 under par. Third spot was occupied by Jay Don Blake with his final round of -4 under par, and finishing total of -14 under par. The two Fred’s, Couples and Funk were tied in fourth, Couples suffering a last round of +3 over par 73, to dash any hopes he had of victory. Fred Funk had a better last round, -5 under par, but he never got going in the first round, slumping to +1 over par effort. Bernhard Langer was ruing his par round of 70 on the third day of play, it cost him victory here.

Champions Tour, SAS Championship. Bernhard Langer Wins

Bernhard Langer/Chris Condon/PGA TOUR

Bernhard Langer won the SAS Championship at Prestonwood Country Club, Cary, North Carolina on Sunday with a blistering final round of -9 under par bogey free 63, and tournament total of -13 under par. The win also catapults Bernhard into the lead of the Charles Schwab Cup points race, this is also Bernhard’s 16th Champions Tour victory.  At the start of the day Bernhard was four shots back beginning the final round, he finished it with birdies on the final two holes for his winning score of – 13 under par at the Prestonwood Country Club. Bernhard said he knew he was going to have to dig deep to contest for the trophy;

“I knew I had to go deeper and lower to make up some ground, and thank goodness it was -9 under because Jay Don came very close to tie me. So a lot of good golf, probably only two bad shots and everything else was good or really good. This week was pretty neat to have won from being four behind and played the round that I played today to take over the Schwab Cup lead, to take over the money list, leading in the money list, those are big goals of mine that I set at the beginning of the year, and obviously it’s not done, but I’m a little closer to maybe achieving it.”

Jay Don Blake  claimed second place alone,  closing with a final round of -4 under par 68 and a total of -11 under par. He needed a birdie on the par-4 18th to force a playoff, but hit a tree with his drive and finished with a bogey on the hole. Jay Don thought he was having problems with his rhythm;

“Probably the rhythm that I was in wasn’t very good because I was just making pars; Bernhard was making all the birdies. You just feel like you have to be more aggressive. But sometimes being aggressive doesn’t always work out. Trying to be too aggressive on 18 kind of hurt me.”

Mark Wiebe also shot a final round of -4 under par 68 to finish on his own in third place with a total of  -10 under par for the tournament. Fred Funk, the leader at the start of play on the last day, had a mediocre -1 under par final round, finishing in a tie for fourth spot.