Dominion Energy Charity Classic

After almost 10 months and 24 regular season events, the Charles Schwab Cup Playoffs kick off this week at The Country Club of Virginia. The James River Course in Richmond will host for the seventh consecutive year.

Bernhard Langer returns as the event's only two-time champion and will look to defend his 2021 title. He's also the defending Charles Schwab Cup Playoffs champion and he's won the money title six times. This includes three straight seasons (2014-2016) plus 2018 and the combined season of 2020-21.

Of the 72 players qualified for this week's event, 68 are entered. Fred Couples ended the regular season with a bang last week, posting 12 birdies and 12-under 60 to win the SAS Championship. He's going to rest and watch baseball for the rest of 2022.

The Charles Schwab Cup Playoffs is a three-event series used to determine the season-long champion. Money earned is converted to points on a 1:1 ratio. All money earned in the Playoffs is reflected in points that are doubled. This week's winner receives 670,000 points to add to their total from the regular season. The top 54 players advance to the TimberTech Championship the weekend after Halloween. The top 36 players after TimberTech will play for the Charles Schwab Cup Championship in Phoenix the following week.

The field of 68 will compete for a purse of $2.2 million, with the winner taking home $335,000.

Just Missed: Alex Cejka, Ken Duke, Darren Clarke, Stephen Ames and Y.E. Yang.

The James River Course is a canvas that has been touched by legendary architects over nearly 100 years. The first iteration was put together by historic architect William Flynn in 1928. Rees Jones (1992) modernized the layout in his interpretation. Lester George (2003-04) built new holes, fairway bunkers and new tees. Andrew Green will be in charge of bringing it back full circle to the 1928 design in the coming years.

The stock par-72 plays to 7,025 for the sixth consecutive season. The returning players will have the advantage of old yardage books and green maps to study before play. The course cuts through the hills and is framed by nicely by the tree line. Only 27 acres of fairway wait off the tee with 2.5 inches of Vamont Bermuda rough serving as the recovery option. The 6,000 square feet of 777 Bentgrass greens will run true at tournament speed and swallow plenty of well-struck putts. Sadly five of the nine greens on the inward nine were damaged by vandals last month. The crew at the James River Course has hustled to get those greens ready for play this week under tough circumstances.

The James River Course usually starts the playoffs with a barrage of birdies. The average winning score over six editions pushes 15 under, so rounds in the 60s will be required. Miguel Angel Jimenez set the bar in 2019 as he set the tournament scoring record on 18-under. Woody Austin just needed 11-under the season before to let the high end. The course record of 63 has been posted by seven players, including six playing this week.

Cool conditions early this week will be replaced with sunshine and temperatures in the upper 60s/low 70s for tournament days. The course has taken on almost 1.5 inches of rain in the last week but drains excellently. No rain is in the forecast for the rest of the week.

Last Time - SAS Championship

Just Missed: Gene Sauers - T44, Justin Leonard - T56, John Huston - T50, Retief Goosen - T61 and Darren Clarke - T30.

If you have any questions, don't hesitate to reach out through Twitter or email me mikeglasscott@gmail.com.