Scott McCarron is poised to win his first Schwab Cup, which might seem like a bold statement to make in May.

But is it? Before this year, seven of McCarron's eight wins on PGA TOUR Champions had come after the calendar hit June. This is the first year in which McCarron has won twice this quickly. When he won four times in 2017 he didn’t pick up his second victory until July 16.

McCarron has been close to dominant in the early stages of 2019. He has won two of the past three events, including the Insperity Invitational on Sunday after an inspiring duel with Scott Parel. He has six top 10s through nine events that include a second and a third to go with his titles at the Insperity and the Mitsubishi Electric Classic. His lead in the Schwab Cup standings has ballooned to $326,000 over Kirk Triplett.

McCarron ranks second on PGA TOUR Champions in scoring, fifth in driving distance, sixth in putting average and seventh in greens in regulation. He has only one finish outside the top 25, a T32 at the Rapiscan Systems Classic.

What’s more, the major season cranks up this week at the Regions Tradition in Birmingham, Alabama. Five of the next eight events are majors, which are contested over four rounds instead of three. And McCarron, 53, is quick to point out that he excelled last year in four-round events.

“I’m excited about the majors,” McCarron said Tuesday. “Last year, including the Charles Schwab Cup Championship (another four-round event), I was inside the top five in every one of them except the U.S. Senior Open.

“I like four-round events. We played those for years on the PGA TOUR. If you have a mediocre round you still can come back. The golf courses are some I really enjoy playing. Greystone with the Regions … I’ve played well here. I just haven’t quite sealed the deal yet. Hopefully I’ll put myself in position to do that this week.”

McCarron did everything last year except win a four-round event. He tied for fifth at the Regions, tied for third at the KitchenAid Senior PGA Championship, tied for fourth at the Constellation SENIOR PLAYERS Championship, tied for third at the Senior Open Championship presented by Rolex and tied for third at the Schwab Cup Championship. If he has five more chances to win in the six four-round events, he sure seems like a good bet to close out one or two this time around.

“I’ve never been one to predict how many tournaments I will win or what score I’ll shoot,” McCarron said. “I feel like if I stay patient … I just want to have an opportunity with nine holes to play. And I believe if I play well I’ll have my opportunities.”

McCarron has won this year on tough courses and in tough conditions, which also bodes well for the majors. He has been one of the longer hitters since arriving on the PGA TOUR Champions, and the rest of his game has caught up to his driver. He has every reason to feel confident about the summer ahead.

McCarron put a new driver into play just before the MEC after cracking the face of his longtime TaylorMade driver head while practicing at home after the Rapsican. He affixed a new head to the old shaft, an SLDR that is no longer in production, and after taking a few swings the shaft snapped. So he “had a bunch of companies send me drivers” and he spent the next 10 days trying to settle on one. He chose a Callaway Epic Flash with an HZRDUS Project X shaft and promptly won the MEC at TPC Sugarloaf in Duluth, Georgia, where he ranked fourth in the field in driving distance.

The irony of switching to a Callaway driver shortly before a tournament wasn’t lost on McCarron. He went to the 1996 Freeport-McDermott Classic without a driver, selected a Callaway Great Big Bertha and posted his first PGA TOUR victory.

McCarron now has 10 victories on PGA TOUR Champions, a feat accomplished by only 38 players. He joined a nice list at the double-digit mark; Jack Nicklaus and Arnold Palmer each won exactly 10 times on Champs.

“It’s not easy to win out here. It’s tough every week,” McCarron said. “These guys are so good. They go low, and there’s only three rounds. You can’t have a mediocre round. You have to go low every day it seems like.

“Ten wins is an impressive number. I kind of pinch myself that I got there this quickly, but I’m not done yet. I want to get a lot higher. I’m having so much fun on the PGA TOUR Champions. It’s such a blast.”