The winner of the 2003 Charles Schwab Cup is back in the mix. With his victory at the Senior British Open and the double points that came with it, Tom Watson picked up his first victory of the season to vault him into second place, 244 points behind leader Dana Quigley, who didn't play last week for the first time in 264 events. Hale Irwin dropped to third place, while Des Smyth, who lost in a playoff to Watson at Royal Aberdeen, is in fourth. Peter Jacobsen rounds out the top five.

The Charles Schwab Cup is a season-long points program designed to recognize the Tour's leading player. The program rewards both top finishes and week-in/week-out consistency at all 28 official Charles Schwab Cup events. Points are awarded to the top-10 finishers and ties and are based on the money distribution for each tournament, with every $1,000 earned being the equivalent of one Charles Schwab Cup point. Points are doubled at the Champions Tour's five major championships-including this week's U.S. Senior Open-and tripled at the season-ending Charles Schwab Cup Championship.

Rank/Player/Events Points Points Behind Wins Top-10s
1 Dana Quigley (16) 1,517 - 2 9
2 Tom Watson (8) 1,273 244 1 5
3 Hale Irwin (13) 1,247 270 2 7
4 Des Smyth (13) 1,192 325 2 6
5 Peter Jacobsen (5) 996 521 1 4
6 Mark McNulty (14) 994 523 1 9
7 D.A. Weibring (15) 971 546 1 9
8 Mike Reid (13) 966 551 1 4
9 Tom Jenkins (16) 964 553 1 8
10 Jim Thorpe (16) 685 832 2 5

The player with the most points at the end of the official season will earn a $1-million annuity from Charles Schwab & Co.

The second through fifth-place finishers earn annuities of $500,000, $300,000, $200,000 and $100,000, respectively, from the $2.1 million bonus program.

The previous winners in the competition are Allen Doyle (2001), Hale Irwin (2002 and 2004) and Tom Watson (2003).

The following charts the weekly point leaders through the first 16 events:

Tournament Leader Consecutive Weeks at No. 1 Total Weeks at No. 1 Second Pts. Diff.
1 MasterCard Championship Dana Quigley 1 1 Tom Watson 109
2 Turtle Bay Championship Dana Quigley 2 2 Hale Irwin 69
3 The ACE Group Classic Hale Irwin 1 1 Dana Quigley 59
4 Outback Steakhouse Pro-Am Hale Irwin 2 2 Dana Quigley 299
5 SBC Classic Hale Irwin 3 3 Dana Quigley 299
6 Toshiba Senior Classic Hale Irwin 4 4 Dana Quigley 299
7 Liberty Mutual Legends of Golf Hale Irwin 5 5 Des Smyth 44
8 FedEx Kinko's Classic Hale Irwin 6 6 Des Smyth 44
9 Blue Angels Classic Hale Irwin 7 7 Des Smyth 44
10 Bruno's Memorial Classic Hale Irwin 8 8 Dana Quigley 88
11 Senior PGA Championship Dana Quigley 1 3 Mike Reid 166
12 Allianz Championship Dana Quigley 2 4 Mike Reid 127
13 Bayer Advantage Celebrity Pro-Am Dana Quigley 3 5 Mike Reid 375
14 Bank of America Championship Dana Quigley 4 6 Mike Reid 375
15 Commerce Bank Championship Dana Quigley 5 7 Mike Reid 375
16 Ford Senior Players Championship Dana Quigley 6 8 Hale Irwin 270
17 Senior British Open Championship Dana Quigley 7 9 Tom Watson 244
18 U.S. Senior Open Championship
19 3M Championship
20 Greater Seattle Champions Classic
21 JELD-WEN Tradition
22 Wal-Mart First Tee Open at Pebble Beach
23 Constellation Energy Classic
24 SAS Championship
25 Greater Hickory Classic at Rock Barn
26 Administaff Small Business Classic
27 SBC Championship
28 Charles Schwab Cup Championship