With the Champions Tour’s season-ending Charles Schwab Cup Championship set to tee off Thursday morning, Bernhard Langer is in search of his fifth year-end title, and looks like he is back to being unbeatable. The 61-year old is at 7/2 to win this event, and if he does, he would also win the points title.
Langer is currently first in the points standings and controls his destiny. If he wins this event, he captures the Cup. He can also finish tied for second and third, and if Scott Parel or Miguel Angel Jimenez don’t win, he would take home the hardware.
All three of those golfers have won twice on tour this year. Not surprisingly Jimenez and Parel are the next pick by the Westgate Las Vegas SuperBook at 8/1.
Jimenez’s two victories were both major championships. He won the Regions Tradition in May, and then captured The Senior Open Championship two months later.
“I never had any majors on the regular tour,” Jimenez said. “That has been a bit different this year.”
How Parel, Jimenez Can Win
Jimenez is second behind Langer in the standings and with a victory and a Langer finish worse than a tied for second, he would win the cup. Accomplishing his first Schwab Cup would be “amazing,” Jimenez said. If he doesn’t win, Jimenez said he would still be satisfied with his year.
“I’m on to the next stage now, but golf is still my life,” Jimenez said. “Golf gave me everything, and I want to give it back something.”
Parel is not a household name on the Champions Tour, but made a splash late this season. The 53-year-old captured the Boeing Classic in August, and is now one of the hottest golfers on the tour.
He was tied for second at the SAS Championship in October, then in the previous two playoff events finished tied for eighth at the Dominion Energy Charity Classic, then two weeks ago won the Invesco QQQ Championship.
In addition to winning this week, Parel can take the Cup if he finishes second or third and Jimenez, Scott McCarron, Jerry Kelly or David Toms do not win, and Langer finishes worse than sixth or eighth.
Kelly, Toms, and McCarron only have a chance at the top prize by winning the championship.
Not Cup-Worthy?
Though the other players are mathematically eliminated from winning the Cup, they still might be good choices to grab the trophy this week. One is Vijay Singh, who won the Toshiba Classic in March, and then got a major championship at the Seniors Players Championship in July.
Still the 55-year-old has had trouble adjusting to life on the senior circuit. He thought when he started playing on this tour that he would win more often than he has.
“I should be in contention every week, that’s just the way I feel,” Singh told PGATour.com. “My game is good enough to win, but the competition is really tough. The guys out here are relentless.”
Singh is 16/1 to win this week, and has two finishes in the top 10 in the two Schwab Cup playoff tournaments.
