Charles Schwab Cup Championship Moving to Desert Mountain in 2012


The Champions Tour and Desert Mountain Club have announced that its season-ending event, the Charles Schwab Cup Championship, will be hosted next year by the Desert Mountain Club in Scottsdale, Ariz. The Cochise Course, one of six at the facility designed by Jack Nicklaus, will be the venue for the championship.

The top-30 players on the Champions Tour money list at the conclusion of the 2012 season will be eligible to compete in the limited-field event October 29 - November 4, 2012. The 2011 event will be held for the second straight year at TPC Harding Park in San Francisco November 3-6.

"The Champions Tour has a lot of history at Desert Mountain and we want to continue making history by bringing one of our premier tournaments to this quality venue," said Champions Tour president Mike Stevens. "Our players are enthusiastic to return."

Built in 1987, the 7,019-yard Cochise Course hosted The Tradition, one of five major championships on the Champions Tour, for 13 consecutive years from 1989 to 2001. Cochise features rolling fairways surrounded by water and desert-rock outcroppings. Its signature section is the par-3 seventh and par-5 15th, which end at a double-green on an island and are approached from two different directions.

"Desert Mountain has such a strong history not only in club and residential golf but in tournament golf," said Nicklaus, a four-time winner of The Tradition on the Cochise Course. "The years during which Desert Mountain hosted The Tradition are an important part of the club's first 25 years and its legacy, and the opportunity to host such a significant event as the season-ending Charles Schwab Cup Championship is an ideal way to celebrate the start of the next 25 years in the Desert Mountain story.

"Cochise is a great example of the variety of golf the members at Desert Mountain get to enjoy and among the reasons the club is so unique. It was a challenge to do six different golf courses on six different properties, and I believe we did a good job in creating courses and golf experiences that play in diverse ways. Of the six distinctive design approaches, Geronimo and Cochise were meant to be golf parks, with the sportier course being Cochise. Variety is the beauty of the overall golf experience there. I have said before, you would be hard-pressed to find a better golf complex in the world than Desert Mountain."

Bob Jones, Chief Operating Officer and General Manager for Desert Mountain Club, shares the club's excitement in hosting the Schwab Cup event. "The anticipation of the Champions Tour professionals returning to Desert Mountain is exciting for the club's members and the community. What a fantastic way for us to showcase our club and begin celebrating our 25th anniversary."

John Cook is the two-time defending champion of the Charles Schwab Cup Championship, winning at Sonoma Golf Club in 2009 and TPC Harding Park last year. Cook is seeking to become the first player in Champions Tour history to win the event three consecutive years.

The complete Champions Tour schedule for the 2012 season is expected to be finalized later this year.