TOM LEHMAN LEADS CHARGE FOR US SENIORS' SCHWAB CUP

FROM THE US CHAMPIONS TOUR WEBSITE
By Vartan Kupelian, PGATOUR.COM Correspondent
There will be a first-time winner of the Charles Schwab Cup, and the man driving the bus toward the Champions Tour's finish line is Tom Lehman.
The Charles Schwab Cup Championship -- Nov. 3-6 at TPC Harding Park in San Francisco -- will bring the curtain down on the 2011 season (on the American over-50s pro tour) and determine the winner of the bonus $1 million annuity in the season-long competition.
Double points are at stake at the Charles Schwab Cup Championship, just as they are in each of the major championships. That means first place at Harding Park is worth 880 points.
Lehman, with three victories this year, leads the race with 2,338 points. He has a 382-point lead over Mark Calcavecchia (1,956 points). Peter Senior is third, and he has resided near the lead most of the season without winning a tournament.
Senior has 1,782 points, followed by John Cook with 1,726 points. Russ Cochran is a distant fifth with 1,508 points, and while the left-hander has a mathematical chance, it's remote. To win the Charles Schwab Cup, Cochran must win the title at Harding Park while Lehman must finish in the bottom two in the elite 30-man field.
If Cochran wins and adds 880 points -- for a 2,388 total -- and Lehman finishes 28th (50 points), they would be tied, based on what the other leaders do.
Here's a look at the five golfers still in with a chance to win the Charles Schwab Cup:
Tom Lehman: His major victory came at the Regions Tradition and was worth double points.
Lehman's other titles came at the Allianz Championship and the Mississippi Gulf Resort Classic, with all three coming in the first seven events of the Champions Tour season.
His 12 top-10 finishes included a fourth-place at the Constellation Energy Senior Players Championship, which provided a big boost to his point total in the final major of the season at a time when he appeared to be stalled.
Lehman's five top-5 finishes in the final seven events solidified his big lead.
Mark Calcavecchia: He didn't win until the Boeing Classic, in the last week of August, but kept grinding out top 10s to stay among the points leaders.
Calcavecchia added huge points to his total in back-to-back weeks in double-point events with a runner-up finish at the Senior British and a third-place at the U.S. Senior Open. If Calcavecchia wins at TPC Harding Park, he'll have 2,836 points but would still fall 10 points short if Lehman is runner-up.
Peter Senior: Senior is the only non-winner to appear in the top five of the Charles Schwab Cup points standings each of the last six weeks.
An additional 880 points would put his total at 2,662 -- or 324 more points than Lehman currently has. To make up the difference, Lehman would have to finish fourth (352 points).
John Cook: He's trying to become the first players since Hale Irwin to win the same event three straight times. There are positive vibes for Cook at TPC Harding Park, the home course of his mentor, Ken Venturi.
While Cook has matched Lehman's three victories this year, he has come up short on the points list because he's on had eight top-10 finishes compared to 14 by Calcavecchia, 12 by Lehman and Senior and 10 by Cochran, who is slotted below Cook on the points total.
A play-off loss to Fred Couples at the Constellation Energy Players Championship was a big boost to Cook's chances.
A victory at TPC Harding Park would put Cook's points total at 2,606.
Russ Cochran: A two-month layoff hurt his chances but his comeback featured a victory at the Senior British and put him right back into the race until Lehman's big finish in the final seven events again opened the spread, making Cochran a long shot to win it all.