A season ago, Bernhard Langer entered the Champions Tour's season-ending Charles Schwab Cup Championship knowing he'd already won the 50-plus tour's season-long race and its $1 million annuity first prize.
If all goes well, that won't be possible in 2016.
Golfweek reports the Champions Tour is pursuing a three-event playoff series akin to the PGA Tour's FedEx Cup for a 2016 start. The formation of a playoff was baked into a 20-year deal extending Schwab's relationship with the Champions Tour.
Two undetermined Champions Tour events would lead into the Charles Schwab Cup Championship, leaving the fate of the season-long race in doubt until the final putt of the season. It's unclear if the first two playoff events would be new or existing events, static or rotating. A hypothetical plan has 72 players making it to the first playoff event, then cutting down to 50 for the second event and the traditional 30 for the finale.