Charles Schwab Cup 2026

Slovakia’s Rory Sabbatini has won the Stifel Charity Classic and moves up to number 7 from 23 in the Charles Schwab Cup this week.

Northern Ireland’s Darren Clarke came in second and moves up three places to number 9.

New Zealand’s Steven Alker tied for third place alongside American Mario Tiziani and Sweden’s Henrik Stenson.

Alker stays at number 3, Tiziani up to 34 from 49 and Stenson to 41 from 56

Related: Rory Sabbatini Cards 62 to Win Stifel Charity Classic for First PGA Tour Champions Title

Four shots back after 36 holes, the 50-year-old rookie played his last six holes in 6 under at Norwood Hills to edge Darren Clarke.

What Is the Charles Schwab Cup?

The Charles Schwab Cup is the season-long points competition on PGA Tour Champions. Players earn points from the prize money they win across the year, and whoever sits top of the standings after a three-tournament playoff series is crowned Cup champion. It’s a separate prize from the tournament that ends the season.

The Cup rewards a whole year of golf. The Charles Schwab Cup Championship is one 72-hole event in Phoenix. Sometimes the same man wins both. Often he doesn’t.

Where did it come from?

The Cup arrived in 2001. The PGA Tour describes it as having been “introduced as PGA TOUR Champions’ first-ever, season-long points competition to identify the leading player on the Tour.”

The very first season showed how the two prizes can split. Allen Doyle was the inaugural Charles Schwab Cup champion, while Bob Gilder won the 2001 Charles Schwab Cup Championship tournament. Two winners, one week, from the outset.

How do players earn Charles Schwab Cup points?

Money is the currency, quite literally. Charles Schwab, the title sponsor, puts it plainly: “Players earn Charles Schwab Cup points based on the money they earn in tournaments throughout the season.”

Throughout the regular season players are effectively building a money list. Before the playoffs begin, that season-long Money List is converted into the Charles Schwab Cup Points List, and from that point the stakes go up. All three playoff events award double points, at a rate of $1 earned = 2 points.

A big week in the autumn is worth twice as much as the same cheque in the spring, so a player outside the leading positions can climb a long way in a short time, and a leader can’t simply coast home.

How do the Playoffs work?

The Playoffs are a three-tournament series, and the field shrinks at every stage. For 2026 the structure runs as follows:

• Regular season: ends at the SAS Championship, scheduled for October 16-18. The top 72 on the Points List advance.
• Stifel Charity Classic (October 23-25, St. Louis, Missouri): the first playoff event, 54 holes, 72 players. The top 54 on the Points List afterwards move on.
• Simmons Bank Championship (October 30-November 1, Little Rock, Arkansas): the second playoff event, 54 holes. The top 36 on the Points List afterwards qualify for the finale.
• Charles Schwab Cup Championship (November 12-15, Phoenix, Arizona): the third and final playoff event, played over 72 holes.

Seventy-two, then 54, then 36. Miss the cut line at any stage and the season is over, whatever you did back in the spring.

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The Money List