One of only 10 players in the 36-player field still a mathematical chance of taking out the season-long Charles Schwab Cup, Green’s hopes looked dashed through two rounds at Phoenix Country Club.

He responded with weekend rounds of 63-65 capped by a 20-foot birdie putt on the 18th hole and a back nine of 5-under 30 to set the clubhouse mark at 17-under par.

Langer and Kiwi Steven Alker stood on the final tee both at 17-under, yet when Langer hit his tee shot left and Alker hit his approach shot long over the back of the green, Green was suddenly sitting pretty.

Richard Green is CLUTCH!

A huge birdie on 18 to tie the lead @SchwabCupFinale 🔥

He can win the Schwab Cup if he wins outright. pic.twitter.com/C1BGNF6Tfi

— PGA TOUR Champions (@ChampionsTour) November 10, 2024

Yet, as he had done 46 times previously on the Champions Tour, Langer poured in his birdie putt from long range to claim victory and relegate Green to a second-place finish for a fifth time this season.

His tie for second was enough for Green to lift three spots to third in the final Charles Schwab Cup standings, Alker the season champion for the second time in third years.

“It was a little hard getting going early, but once I sort of got the momentum on my side the back nine, it was just a matter of making the right decisions and playing my game as good as I possibly could and trying to execute the shots needed,” said Green, who finished the year with more than $US2 million in prize money.

“We had a couple opportunities that I even felt let slip, but still really nice to finish the way I did.”

As the PGA TOUR Champions season came to a close, Queenslander Scott Hend kept alive his hopes of winning the Legends Tour Order of Merit in Europe.

With two events left in the season, Hend’s third place finish at the Farmfoods European Senior Masters in Spain saw him bridge the gap to Order of Merit leader Adilson Da Silva.

Trailing Englishman Simon Griffiths by two after a bogey-free 7-under 66 in Round 2, Hend had drawn level with four birdies in the space of six holes to close out the front nine.

Dropped shots at 10 and 12 would prove costly, an eagle at the final hole enough to secure outright third three shots back of Griffiths.

The DP World Tour season finale will feature two Australians as Min Woo Lee and Adam Scott both maintained their position inside the top 50 in the Race to Dubai Rankings.

Lee produced four sub-70 rounds to finish tied for 23rd at the Abu Dhabi Championship with Scott closing with a round of 7-under 65 to finish tied for 46th and 16th entering the DP World Tour Championship.

Grace Kim’s tie for 11th was a strong result in defence of her LOTTE Championship title in Hawaii while Danny List leads the Aussie charge at the halfway mark of Final Stage of DP World Tour Qualifying School in Spain.

Photo: Christian Petersen/Getty Images

Results

PGA TOUR
World Wide Technology Championship
El Cardonal at Diamante Cabo San Lucas, Los Cabos, Mexico
1          Austin Eckroat              68-67-66-63—264       $US1.296m
T64      Aaron Baddeley           71-68-71-75—285       $15,408
MC       Tim Wilkinson (NZ)       74-75—149

DP World Tour
Abu Dhabi HSBC Championship
Yas Links, Abu Dhabi, UAE
1          Paul Waring                 64-61-73-66—264       €1,419,771.15
T23      Min Woo Lee                69-67-68-69—273       €88,109.33
T37      David Micheluzzi          69-68-70-69—276       €52,615.05
T46      Adam Scott                  71-67-75-65—278       €38,417.34

Qualifying School – Final Stage
Infinitum Golf (Lakes & Hills Cses), Tarragona, Spain
Through three of six rounds
1          Edoardo Molinari         65-61-72—198
T4        Danny List                    72-63-69—204
T22      Brett Coletta                66-74-66—206
T37      Sam Jones (NZ)            69-66-73—208
T44      Haydn Barron               77-61-71—209
T79      Hayden Hopewell        68-74-68—210
T79      Todd Sinnott                74-68-68—210
T111    Tom Power Horan        70-73-69—212
T132    Andrew Kelly                72-70-72—214
T141    Cameron John              71-71-74—216
T150    Matthew Griffin            72-77-69—218

LPGA Tour
LOTTE Championship
Hoakalei Country Club, Ewa Beach, Hawaii
1          A Lim Kim                    66-69-67-68—270       $US450,000
T11      Grace Kim                    72-68-68-71—279       $52,713
T35      Robyn Choi                  70-72-71-72—285       $17,236
T43      Stephanie Kyriacou      70-73-70-73—286       $12,491
MC       Hira Naveed                 74-72—146

Japan Golf Tour
Mitsui Sumitomo VISA Taiheiyo Masters
Pacific Club (Gotemba Cse), Shizuoka
1          Ryo Ishikawa                66-71-65-67—269       ¥40m
T23      Brad Kennedy              72-69-68-69—278       ¥1.86m
T69      Michael Hendry (NZ)    73-73—146

Korean PGA Tour
KPGA Tour Championship
Cypress Golf & Resort, Korea
1          Daihan Lee                   67-67-66-66—266
T49      Sungjin Yeo (NZ)          71-73-70-71—285

PGA TOUR Champions
Charles Schwab Cup Championship
Phoenix Country Club, Phoenix, Arizona
1          Bernhard Langer          69-64-67-66—266       $US528,000
T2        Richard Green              71-68-63-65—267       $276,000
T2        Steven Alker (NZ)         70-68-63-66—267       $276,000
5          Rod Pampling              69-72-65-68—274       $180,000
T15      Greg Chalmers             74-69-69-66—278       $61,500
T17      Mark Hensby               70-69-73-67—279       $55,500
T26      Cameron Percy             70-68-78-68—284       $22,950
33        Stuart Appleby             75-72-71-70—288       $18,750

Legends Tour
Farmfoods European Senior Masters
La Manga Club, Murcia, Spain
1          Simon Griffiths             64-70-68—202
3          Scott Hend                   70-66-69—205
T15      Michael Campbell (NZ) 73-70-67—210
T38      Michael Long (NZ)        74-69-75—218