Notes: Couples on pace to set Tour scoring record

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The Champions Tour visits San Francisco for the Charles Schwab Cup Championship at Harding Park Golf Course. The tournament is the 26th of 26 Charles Schwab Cup events and carries a purse of $2.5 million with $440,000 going to the winner. Double Charles Schwab Cup points are also available to the entire 30-player field this week with the winner earning 880 points and the 30th --place finisher receiving 48 points. Last year at Sonoma Golf Club, John Cook cruised to an easy victory over then-rookie Russ Cochran, helped by a second-round course-record, 10-under 62.

LAST WEEK

• Monday qualifier Rod Spittle made a par on the first playoff hole of the AT&T Championship to defeat Jeff Sluman. Spittle jumped from No. 104 to No. 53 in his fifth start of the season.

• None of the 30 players who came into the AT&T Championship in the top 30 on the money list were bumped out of the top 30.

• Bernhard Langer finished T9 at the AT&T Championship and earned 47 points in the season-long Charles Schwab Cup race. He now leads with 3,207 points and holds a 582-point margin over Fred Couples. Couples will have to win next week's Charles Schwab Cup Championship and Langer will have to finish in a two-way tie for fourth or better to win the Charles Schwab Cup.

• Willie Wood finished T13 in his Champions Tour debut and Jay Delsing, another first-timer, finished T40.

• Steve Haskins was the last player into the field after Nick Price withdrew due to a death in the family. Haskins finished T6, his best showing in a Champions Tour event, and earned a check for $63,000.

• Hale Irwin matched his age for the first time with a first-round, 6-under-par 65 at the AT&T Championship.

• Thursday, Oct. 28, marked the ninth anniversary of Allen Doyle, a 1971 graduate of Norwich University, winning the Charles Schwab Cup and donating the $1 million annuity to the Norwich Athletic Department.

• John Bland and Brian Henning were recently nominated as inductee's of the Class of 2010 into the Southern Africa Golf Hall of Fame. Bland won five times on the Champions Tour, four of those wins coming in 1996. Henning has made significant contributions to the game and was instrumental in establishing the South African PGA Championship.

• Hall Thompson, founder of Shoal Creek, passed away at age 87 last week. Shoal Creek will host the Regions Tradition, the first major on the 2011 Champions Tour.

COMING UP

• Golf Channel will air a 30-minute special "Road to the Charles Schwab Cup Championship" from 7:00 p.m. (ET) on 11/2 (Tuesday). Comcast SportsNet Bay Area will also air it at 6:30 p.m. & 10:00 p.m. (PT) on 11/2 and at 4:30 p.m. on 11/3 (times subject to change).

• Since its inception in 2001, the Charles Schwab Cup champion has been determined eight of nine times at the Charles Schwab Cup Championship. The lone exception was in 2002 when Hale Irwinclaimed the title before the event began.

• In the previous nine years, the only player to overtake the leader coming into the Charles Schwab Cup Championship was Tom Watson in 2005.

• Couples is on pace to set an all-time Champions Tour scoring average mark and comes into the Charles Schwab Cup Championship with an average of 67.89, well ahead of Hale Irwin's record 68.59 set in 1998.

• Langer could capture a third consecutive Player of the Year award as well as the Arnold Palmer Award as the Champions Tour's leading money winner. Several players have won those awards in back-to-back years, but no player has won each of the honors three years in succession.

• Couples has $2,271,894 in earnings in his rookie season. Bruce Fleisher holds the record for most money won by a Champions Tour rookie - $2,515,705 in 1999. Couples needs to win, or finish solo-2nd, to surpass Fleisher's record.

• No player has defended a title on the Champions Tour this year. Tom Pernice, Jr. came the closest when he finished 2nd at the SAS Championship after winning on debut in 2009.

• Students will have the opportunity to participate in a clinic with Hank Haney, sponsored by Charles Schwab Corporation, on Wednesday at 4pm at Harding Park. Haney is the instructor of Champions Tour professional Mark O'Meara.

• The Birdies for the Brave military appreciation day will begin Thursday with a ceremony on the first tee before the opening round. During the week, uniformed military announcers will be on the first tee and 18th green and the American flag will fly from the 18th-hole flagstick during each round.

• San Francisco City Supervisor Sean Elsbernd and PGA TOUR Commissioner Tim Finchem are scheduled to make an announcement on Wednesday at 3:00 p.m. at Harding Park Golf Course.

• Champions Tour caddies will wear San Francisco Giants jerseys during Wednesday's Charles Schwab Cup Championship pro-am. The jerseys will be autographed by Champions Tour professionals and auctioned at a later date with proceeds benefiting The First Tee of San Francisco and the Giants Foundation.

• Two Junior Course Reporters from The First Tee of San Francisco Chapter will receive media credentials and cover the tournament via blogs on Wednesday of tournament week.

• Pick'Em Challenge winner William Costa, and his guest, will experience the Charles Schwab Cup Championship at Harding Park while enjoying accommodation at the St. Regis Hotel and the opportunity to meet Champions Tour professionals at the Presidents Dinner on Thursday evening.

• Lutron's Mobile Experience Center, a 43' long RV, will be on site at Harding Park from Wednesday to help educate the public on the energy-saving and aesthetic benefits of dimming lights and controlling shades and draperies throughout the home and office. Nearly 50 years ago, Lutron's founder and owner, Joel Spira developed the 'dimmer switch'.

ON THIS DATE

11/2/00 -- Dana Quigley sets a new Champions Tour record when he competes in his 39th official event, the most by one player in a season.

11/6/06 -- Paul Azinger is named captain of the 2008 United States Ryder Cup team.

QUOTES TO NOTE

"You are playing against major championship winners and Hall of Famer's, so you've got to be on your game" -- Cook explains why it's difficult to win on the Champions Tour.

"It's going to take a minor miracle"-- Couples, shares his thoughts on his chances of winning the Charles Schwab Cup.

"I must say I feel as young now as I did when I was 40" -- Gary Player, who turned 75 on Nov.1.

"To come and tip-toe in this company is truly amazing" -- Spittle, the 11th player in history to win on the Champions Tour after Monday qualifying.