Asked about the season title scenarios entering the Champions Tour finale, Tom Lehman said all he knew was “if I win, I win.”
That’s all he needed to know.
Lehman won the Charles Schwab Cup Championship on Sunday in Scottsdale, Ariz., to become the first player to win the season points title two consecutive years.
Lehman took a one-stroke lead into the final round, and birdied four of the last five holes for a 5-under 65 and a six-stroke victory. He finished at 22-under 258 on Desert Mountain’s Cochise Course to break the tournament mark for lowest score and tie the record for relation to par set by John Cook in 2009 at Sonoma (Calif.) Golf Club.
Lehman received a $1 million annuity in the Charles Schwab Cup points competition and earned $440,000 for the tournament victory.
Jay Haas shot a 69 to finish second. Jay Don Blake was third at 14 under after a 66, and Seattle native Fred Couples and Fred Funk were another stroke back. Couples, a stroke behind Lehman at the start of the round, had a 73, and Funk shot 65.
Bernhard Langer was sixth at 11 under after a 65. He finished second in the season race, 435 points back after entering the week with a 211-point lead. He earned a $500,000 annuity.
The German won twice this year and topped the money list with $2,140,296. Lehman was second with $1,982,575.
POULTER RALLIES, WINS
Ian Poulter won the HSBC Champions for his first victory of the season, overcoming a four-stroke deficit with a 7-under 65.
The English Ryder Cup star finished at 21-under 267 on Mission Hills’ Olazabal Course in Shenzhen, China, for a two-stroke victory over Phil Mickelson (68), Jason Dufner (64), Scott Piercy (65) and Ernie Els (67). Lee Westwood and Louis Oosthuizen, tied for the third-round lead, shot 72 to drop into a tie for sixth at 18 under.
BIRDIES LIFT LEWIS
Stacy Lewis rallied to win the Mizuno Classic in Shima, Japan, for her LPGA Tour-leading fourth title of the year, birdieing the final three holes for an 8-under 64 and a one-stroke victory over South Korea’s Lee Bo-mee.
Lewis, seven strokes behind Lee entering the round, had 10 birdies and two bogeys to finish at 11-under 205 at Kintetsu Kashikojima.
Trying to become the first American to win the player of the year award since Beth Daniel in 1994, Lewis moved 58 points ahead of South Korea’s Inbee Park with two events left.
MASTERS BOUND
Guan Tianlang won the Asia-Pacific Championship in Bangkok, making the 14-year-old Chinese star the youngest player to qualify for the Masters. Guan closed with a 1-under 71 at Amata Spring Country Club, and came to No. 18 needing a par to beat Taiwan’s Pan Cheng-tsung.
The eighth-grader chipped to 5 feet with his third shot and made the putt.
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