Langer, Cochran win Champions Tour honors

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Langer was a four-time winner on the Champions Tour in 2009.

PONTE VEDRA BEACH, Fla. -- For the second straight year, Bernhard Langer was chosen as the Player of the Year/Jack Nicklaus Trophy recipient by his fellow competitors on the Champions Tour, it was announced today by PGA TOUR Commissioner Tim Finchem and Champions Tour President Mike Stevens.

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Finchem and Stevens also announced that Russ Cochran was selected as the 2009 Rookie of the Year.

World Golf Hall of Fame member Langer becomes the fourth player to win back-to-back Player of the Year honors and remains the Champions Tour's only international player to have earned the distinction. A two-time Masters champion with over 70 worldwide titles, Langer won four tournaments in 2009 including the Mitsubishi Electric Championship at Hualalai, Liberty Mutual Legends of Golf with partner Tom Lehman, Triton Financial Classic and the 3M Championship. Langer had a total of 15 top-10 finishes during the season and led the Charles Schwab Cup race for the first 15 weeks before finishing fourth to eventual winner Loren Roberts.

"I feel privileged to receive this award for the second consecutive year," said Langer. "It's always gratifying to be recognized by your peers and I'm honored to join some elite company with players such as Lee Trevino, Jim Colbert, Hale Irwin and Jay Haas who have been awarded the Jack Nicklaus Trophy multiple times. Week in and week out on the Champions Tour the caliber of play is at a high level and I enjoy the challenge of competing with so many great players. I also look forward to challenging myself to earn more honors such as this in 2010."

The German native also collected his second consecutive Byron Nelson Award for lowest scoring average (68.92) in 2009, as well as earning his second consecutive Arnold Palmer Award as the Tour's leading money winner ($2,139,451). Langer was selected for Player of the Year over nominees John Cook, Fred Funk, Keith Fergus, Jay Haas and Roberts.

A PGA TOUR veteran with 597 starts and one title, Cochran began the 2009 Champions Tour season as a conditionally-exempt player after finishing 11th at the 2008 National Qualifying Tournament. The Paducah, Ky. native had two runner-up finishes (Greater Hickory Classic at Rock Barn, Charles Schwab Cup Championship) and a total of seven top-10s in 16 starts. Cochran finished the season at 17th on the Champions Tour official money list with $900,696 and 10th in the Charles Schwab Cup points race. Other nominees for Rookie of the Year were Tom Lehman, Larry Mize and Hal Sutton.

The winners will be officially honored at a player dinner to be held January 20 at the Mitsubishi Electric Championship at Hualalai in Ka'upulehu-Kona, Hawaii.