Bernhard Langer was the clear favourite to win this year’s Charles Schwab Cup on the U.S. Champions Tour but in the end his dreams were thwarted by a first-time winner – and his own tournament curse. The German had won the first two Schwab Cup play-off events, and only needed to finish high enough in the final Charles Schwab Cup Championship to seal the Schwab Cup for a fourth straight year and fifth time overall.
His woes in the tournament continued, however, as he finished tied for 12th after a mediocre start in the first two rounds. The season finale is one of just eight tournaments on this year’s 26-event schedule that Langer has not won during his otherwise stellar senior career.
Langer closed with a 64 to finish second in the final standings, the sixth straight year he has been first or second in the Cup. It wasn’t all that bad a year for the 60-year-old though: he finished the season with a Champions Tour record $3,677,359 in winnings, secured the tour money title for a sixth straight season, his seven wins in 2017 was a personal best (and included three of the five majors), and his 36 career wins is second in tour history behind Hale Irwin’s 45. Later he was philosophical. "It was meant to be play-offs. Everybody in the field was given a chance to win… I have to pinch myself. Just got to be really grateful and thankful."
Meanwhile, 53-year-old Kevin Sutherland won for the first time in 78 starts on the tour. He entered the week fifth in the Charles Schwab Cup season points standings (the last spot where the player had to only win the tournament to take the $1 million annuity) and he also earned $440,000 for the tournament victory, carding a final-round five-under 66 to beat Vijay Singh and Lee Janzen by one shot.
The only player to shoot 59 in Champions Tour history, Sutherland had 15 top-10 finishes this season, finishing second three times and third twice. His lone regular PGA Tour victory came in 2002 at what is now the World Golf Championships-Dell Technologies Match Play.
"I played really well all year and I just couldn't find a way to get a win. So, to win this tournament, it's unbelievable. I'm sure in a couple days it will sink in a little bit, but right now it just seems like I'm not even sure it really happened, I keep pinching myself. It feels good and it's been a long time since I won a tournament… I mean, the names on this trophy are incredible. I've seen it, and to be on that list is just, I can't even put words to it, it's just amazing."
Sutherland became just the third player to win the Charles Schwab Cup Championship and the Charles Schwab Cup in the same season, joining Tom Watson (2005) and Tom Lehman (2012).
Apart from Sullivan and Langer, the other three players who could have lifted both trophies with a win in the final event were Scott McCarron (second going into the final event), Kenny Perry (third) and Miguel Ángel Jiménez (fourth). They eventually finished ninth, 12th and 34th, respectively, in the tournament, and third, fourth and sixth in the final Cup standings (Singh was fifth).
Jiménez’s first round 74 effectively ended his chances, even though he finished solidly with 69-67 in the 54-hole event. On the annual money list, he won $1,538,366 in 19 tournaments (including victory in the Mississippi Gulf Resort Classic in March) and finished fifth.
