Champions Tour Insider: Rookie of the Year race

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Russ Cochran didn't know where he stood exactly when the 2009 Champions Tour season began.

It's much easier to identify where he is today, and where he might be in a few weeks.

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A second-place finish at last week's Greater Hickory Classic has positioned Cochran for a fast finish. If he pulls it off, there could be a significant reward: Champions Tour Rookie of the Year.

Larry Mize and Tom Lehman are the front-runners for the post-season honor on the eve of this week's SAS Championship. They have piled up impressive performances. Cochran and Hal Sutton are next on the list. A victory in one of the final five events for any of the foursome could dramatically change the rookie snapshot.

Mize has posted nine top-10 finishes, including a runner-up finish at the Senior PGA Championship. He is No. 4 on the Charles Schwab Cup points list and No. 13 on the money list with $880,878. What the former Masters champion doesn't have on his rookie resume is a victory.

Lehman has played most of his golf on the PGA TOUR. In six Champions Tour starts, he has four top-8 finishes and shared the victory at the Liberty Mutual Legends of Golf with partner Bernhard Langer.

Sutton, like Cochran, moved into the top 30 on the money list after the Greater Hickory Classic. Sutton has two top-five finishes in the last three events.

Lehman is No. 24 on the money list; Cochran is 28th and Sutton 29th. A second victory for Lehman could well be decisive in the rookie race. A victory for Mize, Cochran or Sutton could change the equation entirely.

Cochran tied for 11th at the 2008 Champions Tour National Qualifying Tournament, nine shots behind winner Robert Thompson. That gave Cochran conditional exempt status, which meant he needed sponsor exemptions.

The first came at the Allianz Championship, the third event of the campaign, and Cochran, who celebrated his 50th birthday on Halloween in 2008, maximized the opportunity by finishing in a tie for seventh. What he needed was to get a feel for the Champions Tour.

"Allianz gave me a sponsor exemption, which really helped," he said.

The second opportunity came when Cochran was exempted into the British Senior Open. At Sunningdale, in his second Champions Tour major, Cochran tied for 19th.

The following week, at the U.S. Senior Open at Crooked Stick, Cochran finished third behind champion Fred Funk and Joey Sindelar. Another major and another major step for Cochran.

At Crooked Stick, the Champions Tour made its biggest impact on Cochran.

"It kind of felt like earning your jacket in Augusta or something," he said there. "It was a fantastic atmosphere."

Cochran would know about Augusta National Golf Club. He played in the Masters three times (1992-94). He made the cut twice with a best finish of T21 in 1993. Ironically, he shared that spot with four Masters winners -- Fred Couples, Mize, Sandy Lyle and Mark O'Meara.

A native of Paducah, Ky., Cochran grew up playing the public course at Paxton Park, where Kenny Perry also played. Cochran turned professional in 1979 after a college career at the University of Kentucky. In 1982, he joined the PGA TOUR and made 597 career starts.

At the 1991 Centel Western Open, Cochran overcame a 5-stroke deficit over the final eight holes to overtake Greg Norman and post his only victory on the PGA TOUR. Cochran also had two second-place finishes in 1991. He lost a playoff to Craig Stadler at THE TOUR Championship and finished 10th on the money list. The following year, Cochran posted his best finish in a major, a tie for seventh at the PGA Championship after holding the 54-hole lead.

A series of physical setbacks took its toll and sidelined Cochran for long stretches leading up to his Champions Tour career.

"I had wrist surgery and two elbow surgeries," he said. "Hadn't really played for six years. Came off and on. I came back after this wrist surgery and played Nationwide for a bit. Didn't really do what I wanted to do."

The ailments forced Cochran to take a look at every component of his game.

"It's been a test for me," he said. "All kinds of adjustments. And it's coming together."

It came together again last week at the Greater Hickory Classic with a second-place finish. He shot 67-68-65-- 200 for 16-under score to tie Andy Bean. With the $140,000 check, Cochran has won $457,336 as a rookie. At No. 28 on the money list, he is poised to earn a spot in the season-ending Charles Schwab Cup Championship.

Cochran's high-water mark came during the third round of the U.S. Senior Open. He made nine birdies in a 64 that put him solidly into contention on the difficult Pete Dye course at Crooked St ick.

"The more I made, the more I relaxed and the better shots I hit," Cochran said afterwards. "It definitely ranks up there as one of my better rounds."

Cochran put three of those "better rounds" together again last week and he's looking for a few more in the final weeks of the Champions Tour season.

Champions Tour Insider Notes: Tom Pernice Jr. will make his Champions Tour debut this week at the SAS Championship. Pernice has played in 22 PGA TOUR events this season, making the cut in 11 with a T9 at the Bob Hope Classic his best.

• Leonard Thompson will make his 1,000th combined PGA TOUR/Champions Tour start this week at the SAS Championship. He'll be the 10th player to reach the 1,000 mark.

• Six players have played in all 20 events this year-- Tom Kite, Lonnie Nielsen, Tom Purtzer, Jeff Sluman, Denis Watson and Mark Wiebe.