Fred Couples has opened up a five-shot lead over Mark O’Meara in the Charles Schwab Championship. He posted rounds of 65-65-68 and at 15-under par has a commanding lead.
Couples had a very busy year. In addition to making all 14 cuts in his 14 starts on the Champions Tour, he did not miss a cut in four starts on the PGA Tour. He captained the successful 2013 U.S. Presidents Cup team that soundly beat the Internationals at Muirfield Village in October and was inducted into the World Golf Hall of Fame in May.
Although he did not collect a win on the Champions Tour this year, he had nine top-10 finishes, including four runners-up and one third-place finish. He began the week at No. 5 in the Charles Schwab Cup rankings. He is too far behind Kenny Perry to win the Charles Schwab Cup and the $1 million that goes along with it, but the $440,000 first-place check would bring his season earnings to $1.7 million.
The battle is tight for runner-up. Mark O’Meara is alone in second at 10-under par with 2011 and 2012 Charles Schwab Cup winner, Tom Lehman, Bart Bryant and Peter Senior one more shot back at nine-under par. Mike Goodes is alone in sixth place, just one more back at eight-under par.
Champions Tour Rookie and two-time winner this season, Rocco Mediate is tied with the Nos. 1 and 2 in the Charles Schwab Cup race, Kenny Perry and Bernhard Langer.
Langer won the Charles Schwab Cup in 2010 and has been chasing Perry all season. He could have taken the lead last week, but lost to Perry in a playoff in the final regular season event in the AT&T Championship in San Antonio.
Langer needed to win this week and Perry needed to finish lower than fifth place for Langer to earn his second Charles Schwab Cup.
Perry won back-to-back major championships on the Champions Tour at the Senior Players in June and the U.S. Senior Open in July. The win last week over Langer in San Antonio was his third of the season. He solidified his hold on the top spot and brought his season earnings to $2.1 million.
In addition to a slice of the $2.5 million purse available at the Charles Schwab Championship each of the players in the elite field will receive a bonus for finishing in the top-30 in the season-long Charles Schwab Cup race.