Miguel Ángel Jiménez is no longer the leader of the Charles Schwab Cup, the PGA Tour Champions ranking. The golfer from Málaga has relinquished the top spot this Sunday, following Steven Alker‘s victory at the Simmons Bank Championship, the second playoff of the tour and the penultimate tournament of the season.
Alker, a two-time absolute champion of the PGA Tour Champions in the last three years (2022 and 2024), will arrive at the grand final in the first position of the standings, relying solely on himself. The good news for Jiménez is that he also depends on himself, although his margin is much narrower. If he wins the grand final, the Charles Schwab Cup Championship, which will be held from 13 to 16 November at the Phoenix Country Club, he will be the tour champion regardless of what Alker does. He will also be champion if he finishes second alone and Alker finishes third alone or worse.
The scoring in the playoffs is much more generous than in the rest of the season. Two points are awarded for every dollar earned in winnings. Thus, the possibilities are endless. Alker leads Jiménez by 96,714 points, but the winner will receive more than a million points, so many things can still happen. The only certainty is that Jiménez must finish above Alker in any situation and needs to be at least 14th alone to have any mathematical chance. However, by finishing 14th, Alker would need to be last in the final for the golfer from Churriana to achieve his most coveted title.
Jiménez has been the absolute leader of the Charles Schwab Cup since 21 March, the day he won the Hoag Classic. Therefore, it has been seven months of dominance on the tour. He has had nearly $900,000 of distance over the second (the standings are not converted to points until the Playoffs). However, between skipping a few tournaments in recent weeks and not being at his best level in the playoffs (41st at the Dominion and 13th at the Simmons), he has relinquished this top spot to Alker.
Obviously, they are the two main favourites to win the Charles Schwab Cup. Three other players also have mathematical chances: Stewart Cink, Ernie Els, and Thomas Bjorn. Bjorn’s chance is minimal. He needs to win and for the four above him to perform extremely poorly. Els also has no other option but to win.
Alker won the Simmons Bank Championship by seven strokes over Richard Green and Tag Ridings, while Stewart Cink finished in fourth position. Jiménez made a great comeback on Sunday with a round of 66 strokes, the best of the day. The Charles Schwab Cup Championship will be played by the top 36 in the PGA Tour Champions ranking.
