The Champions Tour and the Desert Mountain Club in Scottsdale, AZ., announced recently that the season-ending Charles Schwab Cup Championship will return to the Desert Mountain Club in 2014 and 2016. The tournament will once again be played on the Cochise Course, one of six courses at the venue designed by World Golf Hall of Fame member Jack Nicklaus.

The Charles Schwab Cup Championship was played at Desert Mountain in 2012, but heads to TPC Harding Park in San Francisco for the 2013 event. The top 30 players on the Champions Tour money list at the conclusion of the season are eligible to compete in the limited field event. Double points in the season-long race for the Charles Schwab Cup are awarded to all 30 competitors.

Tom Lehman, who won the Charles Schwab Cup Championship at Desert Mountain in 2012, looks forward to the return. “I am thrilled that the Champions Tour and Charles Schwab Cup Championship are returning to Desert Mountain.  For a number of reasons it has always been a special place for me and I look forward to competing in 2014.”

Prior to the Charles Schwab Cup Championship, Desert Mountain hosted the first Champions Tour major, The Tradition, for 13 consecutive years. The Tradition was also played on the Cochise Course and was won four times by course designer Nicklaus. “We just recently gathered at the club to celebrate the 25th anniversary of Desert Mountain, and it was evident that a significant and proud part of the club’s legacy is its strong history in tournament golf,” said Nicklaus. “But for the more than 2,000 members at Desert Mountain, the next 25 years are just as important to the club, and the commitment to an event like the Schwab Cup sends a strong signal that the membership is passionate about perpetuating Desert Mountain’s legacy as one of the finest private club facilities in the country.”

In addition to the Cochise Course, Desert Mountain features five other Jack Nicklaus Signature Golf Courses; the most in one location anywhere in the world. The Cochise Course stretches out for 7,019 yards in the Sonoran Desert with water and desert rock outcroppings surrounding the fairways. The course is known for its challenging seventh and fifteenth holes, which share a double green that sits on a picturesque island and is approached from two different directions.

Desert Mountain Club Chief Operating Officer and General Manager Robert Jones is also eager for the tournament’s return. “We are very excited to bring the Charles Schwab Cup Championship back to Desert Mountain Club,” said Jones. “The total attendance and the national and international exposure Desert Mountain received during the 2012 event exceeded our expectations. We hope to increase that success in 2014 and 2016.”

The complete Champions Tour schedule for the 2014 season is expected to be finalized later this year.