Week 25 Approach Shots: Schwab Cup Championship

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The 2009 Champions Tour season concludes this week at the Charles Schwab Cup Championship. With double points available to all 30 players, the winner of the Charles Schwab Cup will be decided. Loren Roberts leads the points chase, but four players still have a mathematical chance to take home the Cup and the $1 million annuity. This event will also go a long way in helping to determine the Player of the Year, with Roberts, Fred Funk, Bernhard Langer and Jay Haas all putting together strong resumes this season. A year ago, Andy Bean opened a four-stroke lead after the third round and rolled to a record-breaking nine-shot win. This week's tournament is the seventh held at Sonoma Golf Club, giving the venerable course the distinction of hosting the most season-ending Champions Tour events. The Dunes Golf and Beach Club in Myrtle Beach, S.C., was the site of six consecutive events between 1994 and 1999.

Quick facts

WHAT: 25th of 25 official Charles Schwab Cup events WHEN: Oct. 29-Nov. 1 WHERE: Sonoma, Calif. COURSE: Sonoma Golf Club ROUND 1 TV: GOLF, Thu., 4:30 to 7 p.m. ET ROUND 2 TV: GOLF, Fri., 4:30 to 7 p.m. ET ROUND 3 TV: GOLF, Sat., 4:30 to 7 p.m. ET ROUND 4 TV: GOLF, Sun., 4:30 to 7 p.m. ET KEY LINKS: Scores | Champions Tour Insider | Tournament site

SCHWAB STANDINGS: Only four players have mathematical chances to win the Charles Schwab Cup. They are current leader Loren Roberts, Fred Funk, Bernhard Langer and Jay Haas. With double points available, and all 30 players eligible to earn points this week, any of the four can win depending on the results of various points scenarios. Roberts currently leads Funk by 165 points. Langer trails Roberts by 348 points, with the biggest longshot, Haas, 602 points behind. The Charles Schwab Cup, designed to recognize the Champions Tour's leading player, is a season-long bonus-points competition. Players receive points for top-10 finishes at all 25 official events based on each week's money distribution, with $1,000 earned the equivalent of one Charles Schwab Cup point. The program offers $2.1 million in tax-deferred annuity payouts to the five leading finishers, with the winner receiving a $1 million annuity.

CAPTURING THE CUP: In the previous eight years, the only player to overtake the Charles Schwab Cup leader coming into the final event was Tom Watson, who did it in 2005. Taking advantage of triple points (the third and final year triple points were awarded), Watson was a one-stroke victor in the tournament over Jay Haas and surged past the previous week's overall points leader, Dana Quigley, to win the Cup by 247 points. Quigley tied for fifth that week. Since its inception in 2001, the Charles Schwab Cup champion has been determined seven of eight times at this tournament. The lone exception was in 2002 when Hale Irwin claimed the title before the event began.

SCHWAB STANDOUTS: Tom Watson, a three-time winner of this event (2000, 2002 and 2005) and a runner-up in 2003, remains the leading money-winner in this tournament, with $1,816,000. Jim Thorpe, like Watson a three-time champion (2003, 2006 and 2007), is second, with $1,681,167, while Hale Irwin (1998 winner) is third, with $1,386,491. Gil Morgan and Tom Kite are fourth and fifth, respectively. Both Kite and Morgan are second on the all-time list in top-10 finishes with seven, two behind Irwin.

MONEY TALK I: Only one player leading the money list going into the Charles Schwab Cup Championship has won the event -- Hale Irwin (1998). However, players leading the money list prior to the Charles Schwab Cup Championship have still gone on to claim the money title in 16 of 19 years. The exceptions came in 1991 (Mike Hill overtakes George Archer), 1995 (Jim Colbert overtakes Dave Stockton) and 1996 (Jim Colbert overtakes Hale Irwin).

MONEY TALK II: Thirteen players come into this week's Charles Schwab Cup Championship with earnings of over $1 million. Last year, 15 players entered the season-ending tournament with seven-figure totals, and four more joined the club following the event

GOING LOW: Since the tournament became a 72-hole affair in 1994, only four players have posted four straight rounds in the 60s, and two of those won the event -- Jim Thorpe (2007) and Andy Bean (2008). John Jacobs was the first to post four straight sub-70 scores in 2000, but he finished one stroke behind winner Tom Watson. Tom Kite became the second in 2003. However, Kite finished third, five strokes behind Thorpe.

FUTURE SITE: The Charles Schwab Cup Championship will be staged at San Francisco's Harding Park in 2010 and 2011. Opened in 1925, Harding Park recently hosted The Presidents Cup, won by the United States, as well as the 2005 World Golf Championships-American Express Championship, which Tiger Woods captured in a playoff over John Daly. It will be the sixth venue to host the Champions Tour's season-ending event.

Weather forecast for the Charles Schwab Cup Championship

THURSDAY, Rd. 1 FRIDAY, Rd. 2 SATURDAY, Rd. 3 SUNDAY, Rd. 4 Sunny Temp: 72 high/36 low Partly cloudy Temp: 69 high/42 low Partly cloudy Temp: 73 high/46 low Partly cloudy Temp: 77 high/48 low

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Charles Schwab Cup Championship snippets

Top championship performances: Jim Colbert (1995) and Jim Thorpe (2003) are the only two players to enjoy wire-to-wire victories in Charles Schwab Cup Championship tournament history. The event has been played since 1989. Past winners: This week's field includes four players who have won titles at this event. Leading that group is Tom Watson, a three-time winner. Joining Watson will be Gil Morgan (1997), Mark McNulty (2004) and Andy Bean (2008). Tournament history: Prior to this event moving to Sonoma in 2003, the Champions Tour played at nearby Silverado Country Club in Napa from 1989-2002. In the final year of that tournament, Tom Kite held off Bruce Fleisher and Fred Gibson by a stroke for his sixth victory on the Champions Tour.