Esteban Toledo last man into Schwab Cup final

Three birdies and no bogeys on his final nine holes in the $2 million DominionCharity Classic was just what Esteban Toledo needed to become the last man to qualify for next week’s season finale tournament of the inaugural Charles Schwab Cup playoffs.

Thirty-six players from this week’s 53-man field earned berths in next week’s Charles Schwab Cup Championship in Scottsdale, Ariz.

Sunday’s back-nine 33 on the Country Club of Virginia’s James River Course propelled Toledo, 54, to a 2-under-par 70 and a 54-hole total of 1-under 215. That was good enough after all the computer computations for Toledo to move up from No. 37, where he began the week, to No. 36.

“It was not fun. I knew it was going to be a tough day today. I knew when I turned 1 over, I had to shoot well on the back, and I shot 3 under. I could have shot 4 under. I played great today,” Toledo said shortly after finishing. “We’ll see what happens. If I do it, great; if I don’t, I’m exempt for next year so I have a place to play. Going to the finals, I think it would be great.”

Toledo was the first of the last-spot contenders to finish. Glen Day (No. 36), Marco Dawson (38), Willie Wood (45) and Joey Sindelar (33) had a crack at knocking him out, but no one succeeded.

After hanging around for 90 minutes or so, Toledo left the course knowing he could book his flight to Arizona.