Week 25 Power Rankings: Schwab Cup Championship

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Editor's note: Vartan Kupelian is the Champions Tour Insider and a PGATOUR.COM Contributor. Each week, Kupelian will size up the field and provide his top five players going into the tournament, based on factors such as the player's strengths, the course setup, recent performances, etc.

It's crunch time on the Champions Tour.

The Charles Schwab Cup Championship, the limited 30-man final event of 2009, will go a long way in determining the winner of the Charles Schwab Cup and the $1 million annuity.

With double points available at Sonoma Golf Club, the race is down to four men -- Loren Roberts, Fred Funk, Bernhard Langer and Jay Haas. The final total available in points is 880. The gap between top and bottom -- from Roberts to Haas -- is 602 points.

Andy Bean is the defending champion at Sonoma, where he dominated the field last year with a 20-under total and nine-stroke victory.

Power Rankings: Charles Schwab Cup Championship

Rank Player   Comment Jay HAAS The hottest player on Tour has two wins (Greater Hickory Classic, Constellation Energy Senior Players) and two runner-up finishes in the last four events. Haas has won $928,166 in those four starts and 14 of his last 15 rounds have been in the 60s. Loren ROBERTS He's the man to catch in the Charles Schwab Cup points list. Roberts, the 2007 winner, has a 165-point lead over Fred Funk as neither gained any points last week at the AT&T Championship. Roberts has had a brilliant run of results since April. Bernhard LANGER A T7 last week shows he's in form for the finale. Langer led the Schwab Cup standings through 15 tournaments before relinquishing the top spot to Funk. Langer is 348 points behind Roberts, 183 points behind Funk and will concede nothing. Fred FUNK He failed to make up ground with a T61 at the AT&T Championship and has had only one top-10 (Constellation Energy Senior Players) in his last five starts, but all that's at stake this week will be all the straight-hitting Funk needs to lift his game. Andy BEAN His timing is excellent. He arrives at Sonoma as the defending champion and after a T2 at the AT&T Championship. He can't win the Charles Schwab Cup, but he certainly can impact the race with another performance like last year.