SAS Championship to offer wildcard spot in 2016

The 2016 SAS Championship will determine the final spot in the new Charles Schwab Cup Playoffs on the Champions Tour, it was announced Wednesday.

The top 72 players on the tour will advance to the three-event playoffs after the SAS Championship at Cary’s Prestonwood Country Club. The SAS Championship, set Oct. 10-16, will offer a “Wildcard Weekend” that could determine the 72nd and final playoff spot.

If a player is outside the top 72 players on the tour money list but posts a top-10 finish at the SAS, he will grab the 72nd spot and qualify for the playoffs. That could include a player who turned 50 late in the year, one who has missed much of the year because of an injury on the 50-and-older tour or someone who qualified for SAS event in the open qualifier before the tournament.

The three-event playoffs, patterned after the FedEx Cup playoffs on the PGA Tour, will begin with the new PowerShares QQQ Championship in Los Angeles. The new Dominion Charity Classic will be the second event and the Charles Schwab Cup Championship will conclude the playoffs.

“We raised our hand and showed a lot of interest to the tour in being one of the playoff events, but this way the tour gets to add two new events,” SAS tournament director Jeff Kleiber said Wednesday. “We still will have the legends of the game coming to our tournament, the Hall of Famers. And our date works out well for us and SAS clients.”

The final 36 players at the Charles Schwab Cup Championship all will have the opportunity to win the Cup. That would allow a wildcard qualifier from the SAS the chance to be the overall winner.

This story was originally published November 11, 2015 at 9:08 AM with the headline "SAS Championship to offer wildcard spot in 2016."