Florence native Stewart Cink received the Jack Nicklaus Award as the PGA Tour Champions Player of the Year for the 2025 season at the older-than-50 golf circuit’s awards dinner on Tuesday night.
Cink finished atop the season-long Charles Schwab Cup standings as he won three tournaments and posted 15 top-10 results in his 21 tournaments.
“I am thrilled to be named PGA Tour Champions Player of the Year and to receive the prestigious Jack Nicklaus Award,” the 52-year-old Cink said. “It is humbling to think of some of the game’s 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.
“I began the 2025 season with the lofty goal of winning the Charles Schwab Cup. Realizing that goal and now being voted Player of the Year will rank among the very top of my career achievements. I am incredibly blessed to compete on PGA Tour Champions and excited to begin the 2026 season.”
The winner of the Jack Nicklaus Award was chosen by a vote of the tour members who played in at least 11 events in 2025.
Cink won the Insperity Invitational on May 2, Ally Challenge on Aug. 22 and Charles Schwab Cup Championship on Nov. 13.
Cink also received the Arnold Palmer Award as the PGA Tour Champions leading money-winner during the 2025 season, when he earned $3,247,147.
An alumnus of Bradshaw High School in Florence, Cink also has eight victories on the PGA Tour, where he’s made 690 starts. Cink’s victories include the 2009 Open Championship, where he defeated Tom Watson in a playoff to win the claret jug.
The PGA Tour Champions schedule for 2026 opens on Thursday with the Mitsubishi Electric Championship at Hualalai Golf Course in Ka’upulehu-Kona, Hawaii.