Champions Tour announces 2011 Tournament Awards

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PONTE VEDRA BEACH, Fla. -- The Champions Tour announced today the best tournaments of the 2011 Champions Tour season.

Five specific categories were recognized -- the President's Award, the Players Award, the Tournament Business Affairs Award, the Outstanding Achievement Award and the Fan Favorite Award.

Mike Stevens, President of the Champions Tour, announced the Regions Tradition, a Champions Tour major staged at Shoal Creek in Birmingham, Alabama, as the recipient of the President's Award, a most prestigious award which captures the criteria of all the awards plus the intangibles that make it stand out from the rest.

"The Regions Tradition impressed me from a number of standpoints," said Stevens. "The event faced significant challenges including a new venue which hadn't hosted professional golf in over 20 years, the infrastructure of a major championship and the devastating tornadoes that plagued the area immediately before the event which caused a lot of disruption. Everyone involved with this event worked together to make it extremely successful and one that is very deserving of the President's Award."

Shoal Creek had not hosted a professional golf event since the 1990 PGA Championship. Regions Financial was previously involved with the Regions Charity Classic in Birmingham before elevating their involvement with the Tour as title sponsor of the Tradition when the decision was made to relocate the major championship from Oregon to Alabama. The tornadoes which thundered through Alabama in April causing loss of life and massive destruction just a week before the tournament saw the players, officials, staff, volunteers and spectators join together in a tornado disaster relief fundraising effort to assist the victims of the storms.

Tom Lehman defeated Peter Senior at the Regions Tradition to win his third event of the season before going on to finish No. 1 on the money list and collect the Charles Schwab Cup as the most consistent player of the year.

The Players Award went to the Boeing Classic. The seventh-year tournament has become a "must-play" event for players, sponsors and spectators, resulting in excellent galleries in spectacular surroundings. Mark Calcavecchia captured his first Champions Tour title defeating Russ Cochran in a one-hole playoff at TPC Snoqualmie Ridge in Snoqualmie, Wash.

The Champions Tour Tournament Business Affairs Department Award went to the 3M Championship. The TBA team rates and grades every tournament in several different categories that determine what makes a successful event, and the 3M Championship, played at TPC Twin Cities in Blaine, Minn., for the 11th consecutive year earned the highest overall score. Jay Haas made a hole-in-one on his way to victory in the tournament that followed back-to-back major championships and attracted a stellar field this year. The tournament, which distributed $1.3 million back into the community this year, has set a goal to distribute a total of $20 million over 20 years after its 20th playing in 2012.

The Outstanding Achievement Award was earned by the Insperity Championship conducted at The Woodlands Country Club (Tournament Course) in Houston, Texas. The tournament featured a new name (formerly Administaff Small Business Classic) and several unique initiatives including Tees for Charity, a fundraising opportunity where players and wives design oversized golf balls to be auctioned at the pairings party and a Pink-Out on Saturday of tournament week to raise awareness for breast cancer. Brad Faxon, a Champions Tour rookie, claimed his first Champions Tour title at this event in a rain-shortened competition in just his sixth start on the Tour.

The Champions Tour's Fan Favorite Award was determined by fans playing an online Champions Tour trivia competition on Facebook and awarding points won to the tournament of their choice. More than 19,000 games of trivia were played in the month-long competition, and the winner of the 2011 award was the Dick's Sporting Goods Open. This year's tournament at En-Joie Golf Course in Endicott, N.Y., was won by Champions Tour rookie John Huston.

The Champions Tour Tournament Advisory Council presents the Bruno Award annually to an individual judged to have made special and outstanding contributions to the Champions Tour. The award is named in honor of Brian 'Bruno' Henning, the former Vice President of the Champions Tour and Southern Africa Golf Hall of Fame member. This year, Skip Whittet, a former tournament director of the Champions Tour's GTE West Classic in Ojai, Calif., from 1991-1993, is the recipient. Whittet turned professional in 1967 and received multiple accolades during his distinguished career as a golf professional, including Life Membership of the PGA of America.

"When the tournament in Ojai was finished, Bruno asked me if I was interested in a job at the TOUR," recalled Whittet. "I accepted and started as a Rules Official in 1994. To get an award from the man who employed me is very meaningful. It's something you don't think about when you start out. It's a very nice honor. Bruno is a wonderful mentor."

Whittet has competed in six Champions Tour events and is now retired. He still assists Champions Tour staff at tournaments occasionally.