Tom Lehman and Fred Couples are in a two-man race for the title after each shot an 8-under-par 62 Saturday at the Charles Schwab Cup Championship in Scottsdale, Ariz.
If he wins today, Lehman will take home a bonus $1 million annuity and become the first player to win the season points title two straight years.
Lehman birdied the final hole for a one-stroke lead over Couples after three rounds of the Champions Tour’s season-ending event. Couples made two eagles in his round to join Lehman in the final group today,
“I really like the pairing,” Lehman said. “Hopefully, he plays his best, and, hopefully, I play my best and we’ll see what happens.”
Lehman shot the lowest round of his Champions Tour career for the second straight day. At 63-62 and 15 under, he was a stroke off the tour record for consecutive rounds set by Bruce Fleisher (60-64) in 2002.
Couples, from Seattle, is playing for the first time since a back injury forced him to withdraw after hitting one shot at the Boeing Classic in late August in Snoqualmie.
“If I can play like this every two months, I think I might finish my career playing four times a year and just say, ‘The heck with it,’ ” Couples joked.
Jay Haas, five strokes ahead of Lehman at the start of the round after matching the tour-record Friday with a 60 on Desert Mountain’s Cochise Course, had a 69 to drop two strokes back.
“I just wasn’t as sharp,” Haas said. “But the birdie at the last hole still gives me a chance tomorrow, and leaves a better taste in my mouth.”
WESTWOOD HOT
Lee Westwood shot an 11-under 61 for a share of the third-round lead with Louis Oosthuizen in the HSBC Champions in Shenzhen, China.
Oosthuizen, the 2010 British Open champion, came into the weekend with a five-stroke lead over the field but struggled with his putting and had a 70.
They are at 18-under 198, three shots ahead of Phil Mickelson, who shot a 66.
ELSEWHERE
Guan Tianlang of China is one round away from becoming the first 14-year-old to play in the Masters. He matched par 72 on the difficult Amata Spring course in Bangkok to take a two-shot lead over Oliver Goss of Australia going into the final day of the Asia-Pacific Amateur Championship. …
South Korea’s Lee Bo-mee shot an 8-under 64 to take a four-stroke lead after the second round of the Mizuno Classic, an event for women in Shima, Japan. American Angela Stanford shot a 71 and was tied for third at 4 under. … Jake Scott, a 25-year-old from Elyria, Ohio, shot a 5-under 67 to increase his lead to four strokes in the PGA Assistant Championship in Port St. Lucie, Fla.
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