Charles Schwab Cup Champion Stewart Cink has claimed the Jack Nicklaus Award as Player of the Year, while Tommy Gainey has been named the Hale Irwin Award winner as PGA TOUR Champions Rookie of the Year. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
The honors were presented at the PGA TOUR Champions Annual Awards Dinner, during the season-opening Mitsubishi Electric Championship at Hualalai.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Cink, an eight-time PGA TOUR winner including the 2009 Open Championship, won three times on PGA TOUR Champions in 2025, including the season-ending Charles Schwab Cup Championship.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Gainey, who won the 2012 RSM Classic during his TOUR career, played his way onto PGA TOUR Champions via open qualifiers and top-10s before securing his breakthrough win at the Constellation FURYK & FRIENDS in his fifth start on Tour.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cOn behalf of PGA TOUR Champions, I would like to congratulate Stewart Cink and Tommy Gainey on their tremendous achievements, and for earning these prestigious honors through a vote of their peers. Stewart has long been one of the top players in our sport, and it was fantastic to watch him win the Charles Schwab Cup to cap off a breakout season on our Tour,\u201d said PGA TOUR Champions President Miller Brady.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cTommy showed true grit in advancing through a number of open qualifiers on his way to the winner\u2019s circle in Jacksonville, and I know he takes great pride in securing Rookie of the Year honors.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The Player of the Year and Rookie of the Year awards are determined by a member vote, with PGA TOUR Champions members who played in at least 11 official events during the 2025 season eligible to vote. Cink earned the Jack Nicklaus Award over three other nominees: Steven Alker, \u00c1ngel Cabrera and Miguel \u00c1ngel Jim\u00e9nez. Gainey received the Hale Irwin Award over three other nominees: Freddie Jacobson, S\u00f8ren Kjeldsen and Tag Ridings.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
In just his second full season on PGA TOUR Champions, Cink opened his 2025 campaign with four straight top-10s, including a T2 at the Hoag Classic. At the Insperity Invitational in May, he birdied the first playoff hole to defeat World Golf Hall of Fame member Retief Goosen for his second career Champions Tour title. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
Top-three finishes at the Kaulig Companies Championship, U.S. Senior Open and Boeing Classic gave way to win No. 2 on the year at The Ally Challenge, where he successfully defended his 2024 title after defeating Hall of Famer Ernie Els in a playoff. Cink, 52, entered the season-ending Charles Schwab Cup Championship at No. 3 in the Schwab Cup standings, but posted rounds of 64-68-65-67\u2014264 (20-under) to defeat Alker by two shots for his third win of the year, as well as the season-long Schwab Cup title.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cI am thrilled to be named PGA TOUR Champions Player of the Year and to receive the prestigious Jack Nicklaus Award. It is humbling to think of some of the game\u2019s all-time greats who have earned this honor before me, and to know it came by a vote of my peers makes it even more special,\u201d said Cink.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cI began the 2025 season with the lofty goal of winning the Charles Schwab Cup.\u00a0 Realizing that goal and now being voted Player of the Year will rank among the very top of my career achievements.\u00a0 I am incredibly blessed to compete on PGA Tour Champions and excited to begin the 2026 season.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Gainey\u2019s rookie campaign saw him make just nine starts after turning 50 on August 13, with one win and two additional top-10s on the year. The former RSM Classic winner successfully open qualified four times on PGA TOUR Champions before finally entering the winner\u2019s circle at the Constellation FURYK & FRIENDS in October, where he defeated Cameron Percy by two shots.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cIt is an honor to be named Rookie of the Year and receive the Hale Irwin Award. I have been looking forward to playing the Champions Tour with some of these legends for a number of years now, and to earn my first win at Jim Furyk\u2019s event is something I\u2019ll never forget moving forward in my career. I truly thank God for everything,\u201d said Gainey.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Two-time Charles Schwab Cup Champion Steven Alker earned the 2025 Byron Nelson Award for the third time (2022, 2024), presented annually to the PGA TOUR Champions player with the lowest scoring average. Alker finished the season with a 68.42 scoring average, narrowly beating out Cink and Jim\u00e9nez, who finished at 68.77 and 68.80, respectively.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Stewart Cink\u2013 Player of the Year<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n 2025 Charles Schwab Cup Champion<\/p>\n\n\n\n 2025 Jack Nicklaus Award (Player of the Year)<\/p>\n\n\n\n 2025 Arnold Palmer Award (Season Money Winner)<\/p>\n\n\n\n 2025 Season Summary: three victories, 15 top-10 finishes in 21 starts<\/p>\n\n\n\n 2025 Wins: Insperity Invitational, The Ally Challenge, Charles Schwab Cup Championship<\/p>\n\n\n\n 2025 Scoring Average: 68.77 (second)<\/p>\n\n\n\n 2025 Winnings: $3,247,147 (first)<\/p>\n\n\n\n Tommy Gainey \u2013 Rookie of the Year<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n 2025 Hale Irwin Rookie of the Year<\/p>\n\n\n\n 2025 Season Summary: one victory, 3 top-10 finishes in nine starts<\/p>\n\n\n\n 2025 Win: Constellation FURYK & FRIENDS<\/p>\n\n\n\n 2025 Winnings: $794,653 (29th)<\/p>\n\n\n\n Finished 24th in the Charles Schwab Cup standings<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Charles Schwab Cup Champion Stewart Cink has claimed the Jack Nicklaus Award as Player of the Year, while<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":8230,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"om_disable_all_campaigns":false,"_uf_show_specific_survey":0,"_uf_disable_surveys":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[44],"tags":[58],"class_list":["post-8229","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-international","tag-golf"],"aioseo_notices":[],"featured_image_urls":{"full":["https:\/\/www.infinitysport.asia\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/01\/StewartCink2026.1_compressed-scaled.jpg",2560,1707,false],"thumbnail":["https:\/\/www.infinitysport.asia\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/01\/StewartCink2026.1_compressed-150x150.jpg",150,150,true],"medium":["https:\/\/www.infinitysport.asia\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/01\/StewartCink2026.1_compressed-300x200.jpg",300,200,true],"medium_large":["https:\/\/www.infinitysport.asia\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/01\/StewartCink2026.1_compressed-768x512.jpg",640,427,true],"large":["https:\/\/www.infinitysport.asia\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/01\/StewartCink2026.1_compressed-1024x683.jpg",640,427,true],"1536x1536":["https:\/\/www.infinitysport.asia\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/01\/StewartCink2026.1_compressed-1536x1024.jpg",1536,1024,true],"2048x2048":["https:\/\/www.infinitysport.asia\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/01\/StewartCink2026.1_compressed-2048x1365.jpg",2048,1365,true],"morenews-large":["https:\/\/www.infinitysport.asia\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/01\/StewartCink2026.1_compressed-825x575.jpg",825,575,true],"morenews-medium":["https:\/\/www.infinitysport.asia\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/01\/StewartCink2026.1_compressed-590x410.jpg",590,410,true]},"author_info":{"info":["admin"]},"category_info":"International<\/a>","tag_info":"International","comment_count":"0","jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/www.infinitysport.asia\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/01\/StewartCink2026.1_compressed-scaled.jpg","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.infinitysport.asia\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8229","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.infinitysport.asia\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.infinitysport.asia\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.infinitysport.asia\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.infinitysport.asia\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=8229"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.infinitysport.asia\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8229\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":8231,"href":"https:\/\/www.infinitysport.asia\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8229\/revisions\/8231"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.infinitysport.asia\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/8230"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.infinitysport.asia\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=8229"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.infinitysport.asia\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=8229"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.infinitysport.asia\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=8229"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}