2011 Champions Tour season in review: Final notes

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Tom Lehman was the only man on the Champions Tour to top $2 million in earnings in 2011.

• Tom Lehman (Allianz Championship, Mississippi Gulf Resort Classic, Regions Tradition) and John Cook (Mitsubishi Electric Championship at Hualalai, Outback Steakhouse Pro-Am, Montreal Championship) each won three times in 2011, the most wins by an individual player on last year's Champions Tour. It marked the fewest by a player leading the circuit in victories since 2008 when Bernhard Langer and Eduardo Romero each claimed three titles during the season.

• There were 19 different winners on the Champions Tour in 2011, the most different champions since 2007 when there were 21. There were only four multiple winners last year, the fewest in a season since 1985! Six professionals won their first events on the Champions Tour in 2011, the fewest since 2008 when there were only three first-time winners.

• Here are the final standings in this year's Charles Schwab Cup race compared to the final results from the last two seasons. Tom Lehman's narrow 74-point margin of victory over Mark Calcavecchia last year was the slimmest since 2008 when Jay Haas edged Fred Funk by only 12 points, the closest margin ever in Schwab Cup history. John Cook is the only player to finish among the top-five in the Schwab Cup standings in each of the last four years.

• In the Charles Schwab Cup race, Lehman grabbed the lead from Cook for good after he won the second official event of the year at the Allianz Championship. It marked the earliest point that a player had taken the lead and then held it throughout the remainder of the campaign. In 2010, Bernhard Langer grabbed the Schwab Cup lead after claiming the Senior British Open Championship at Carnoustie and never looked back. Fred Couples had held the lead since February 14. Tom Watson was the initial leader after winning the Mitsubishi Electric Championship at Hualalai before giving way to Couples at the second official tournament.

• Lehman was the only player to surpass the $2 million mark in single-season earnings in 2011 with a personal-best $2,081,526. It marked the first time a player was the leading money-winner on all three Tours. In 1991, Lehman topped the Nationwide Tour money list with $141,934 and in 1996, Lehman claimed the PGA TOUR's Arnold Palmer Award with $1,780,159. The only other time that Lehman eclipsed the $2-million plateau in his career was in 2000 when he finished 12th on the PGA TOUR money list with $2,068,499. Here is where the top three money-winners stood at the close of the season compared to the last two years:

• For the second consecutive year, the Champions Tour's oldest winner was Tom Watson, who at 61 years, 8 months, 25 days, captured the Senior PGA Championship. Watson's playoff victory over David Eger at Valhalla GC made him the oldest to claim a major championship since the advent of the Champions Tour in 1980. With the victory, Watson also became the third oldest winner in Champions Tour history. One week after Watson's triumph, Bob Gilder won The Principal Charity Classic at 60 years, 6 months and 5 days, the 20th player over the age of 60 to win a Champions Tour event. It marked the first time in Champions Tour history that players over age 60 had won back-to-back events. The youngest winner in 2011 was John Huston who claimed the Dick's Sporting Goods Open just 26 days after turning 50. Huston tied Dale Douglass for the 11th youngest winner in Champions Tour history.

• Nick Price's 11-under-par 60 in the opening round of the Toshiba Classic tied the lowest-score ever recorded on the Champions Tour. It was the seventh 60 in the annals of the circuit and also was the third 60 shot in the opening round of an event. Tom Purtzer posted 11-under 60 in Round 1 of the 2004 Toshiba Classic and Bruce Fleisher shot 10-under 60 in Round 1 of the 2002 RJR Championship.

• Price's 60 in the first round of the Toshiba Classic was good enough for a five-shot advantage, tying the Champions Tour record for largest lead after 18 holes. Prior to this year, Allen Doyle enjoyed a five-stroke advantage after the first round of the 2000 IR SENIOR TOUR Championship at the TPC Myrtle Beach.

• Three different players have strung together 12 straight scores in the 60s over the last two years on the Champions Tour. In 2011, Cook and Lehman both had runs of 12 straight sub-70 rounds during the season, one short of Hale Irwin's all-time record of 13 consecutive sub-70 rounds in 1999. During his early-season run on the Champions Tour in 2010, Fred Couples strung together 12 straight rounds in the 60s. Irwin set the record in 1999 and prior to that, Lee Trevino held the mark with 11 straight scores in the 60s in 1992.

• There were six first-time winners in 2011-- John Huston (Dick's Sporting Goods Open), Olin Browne (U.S. Senior Open), Mark Calcavecchia (Boeing Classic), Jay Don Blake (Songdo IBD Championship), Kenny Perry (SAS Championship) and Brad Faxon (Insperity Championship). Huston, Perry and Faxon were all rookies on the Champions Tour this year.

• Of the Champions Tour's 24 official events, eight were decided in playoffs and six other tournaments were decided by just one stroke. The eight playoffs were the most in a season since 2005 and just one overtime session short of the all-time record. During the first half of the year, the Champions Tour had four straight events decided by playoffs (Outback Steakhouse Pro-Am, Liberty Mutual Legends of Golf, Regions Tradition, Senior PGA Championship), tying the all-time record set in 2005 for most consecutive tournaments with a playoff.

• Sixty-six-year-old Hale Irwin, the Champions Tour's all-time victory leader with 45 titles, moved ahead of Bob Charles for the most top-10 finishes in Champions Tour history when he recorded his 204th top-10 at the U.S. Senior Open (T4). One week later, Irwin finished T8 at the 3M Championship and ended his 2011 season with seven top-10s in 21 starts. He had recorded three top-10s in the previous three years. Irwin played in the season-ending Charles Schwab Cup Championship at age 66, becoming the oldest player ever to qualify for the limited-field tournament.

• The Champions Tour's record for most birdies in a 54-hole event was shattered at the Greater Hickory Classic at Rock Barn when 1,147 birdies were made. The old mark was set at the 2010 Allianz Championship when 1,012 birdies were made on the Old Course at Broken Sound. Also, the cumulative scoring average of 69.008 on the par-72 Jones Course at Rock Barn was easily an all-time record in relation to par since records were first kept in 1988.

• Five Champions Tour events were won with tournament-record scores, including the AT&T Championship in San Antonio, one of the oldest events on the circuit. Couples won the AT&T Championship with a 23-under 193 total, the lowest score in relation to par on the 2011 Champions Tour. His score at the TPC San Antonio bettered the old tournament record of 18-under 195 by Mark McNulty in 2004. In addition to Couples, Langer (ACE Group Classic/196/-20), Lehman (Mississippi Gulf Resort Classic/200/-16), Mark Wiebe (Greater Hickory Classic at Rock Barn/197/-16) and Cook (Montreal Championship/195/-21) set tournament records en route to their victories.

• Tom Kite played in his 1,000th combined PGA TOUR/Champions Tour event when he teed it up at the 2011 SAS Championship. Kite became just the 12th player in history to accomplish the feat and the first since Hale Irwin hit the 1,000 mark at the 2010 Outback Steakhouse Pro-Am. Kite made 713 starts on the PGA TOUR and won 19 official titles, including the 1992 U.S. Open. He has also won 10 Champions Tour events.

• Kite also became the first player in Champions Tour history to make three eagles on the same 9-hole stretch, doing so at the Greater Hickory Classic at Rock Barn. It marked only the sixth time in Champions Tour history that a player had three eagles in a round. Kite was the first player to make three eagles in the same round since Curt Byrum at the 2009 Senior British Open Championship.

• Both Mike Goodes and Kite shot 8-under 28s on different nines, on different days, at the Greater Hickory Classic at Rock Barn. It marked the lowest 9-hole scores shot on the Champions Tour since Tom Watson had a 7-under 28 on the front-9 in the opening round of the 2008 Outback Steakhouse Pro-Am. Prior to Goodes and Kite, the last time multiple players shot 28s was 2004 when three players carded that same number, including Gary Koch and Lonnie Nielsen on the back nine during the opening round of the ACE Group Classic.

• Only six aces were made on the 2011 Champions Tour by six different players -- Olin Browne (Allianz Championship), D.A. Weibring (U.S. Senior Open), Jay Haas (3M Championship), Irwin (Boeing Classic), Chien-Soon Lu (Songdo IBD Championship), Wiebe (Charles Schwab Cup Championship). Irwin's ace at the TPC Snoqualmie Ridge near Seattle at age 66 was his first hole-in-one as a member of the Champions Tour.

• A total of 12 of the 24 official events were won by the leader or co-leader after Saturday's round. In 2010, 14 of 26 official events were won by Saturday leaders/co-leaders and in 2009, nine of 25 official tournaments were won by the Saturday leaders/co-leaders.

• Winners of 2011 Champions Tour events came from the last grouping in 18 of the 24 official events and from the last grouping in the last 10 tournaments (beginning with Senior British Open). David Eger/Mark McNulty came for the farthest distance during the year, winning the Liberty Mutual Legends of Golf in a playoff after being in the sixth-to-last grouping for the final round. Mark Calcavecchia played in the last grouping on Sunday five times, the most by any player last year. Cook, Russ Cochran, John Huston and Peter Senior were in the final grouping four times each.

• Jim Colbert made his 500th career start in an official event on the Champions Tour at the Allianz Championship. He joined a select group of Champions Tour players to reach that number -- Miller Barber (603), Dale Douglass (600), Jim Dent (545), Walt Zembriski (527), Harold Henning (520), Orville Moody (513), Rocky Thompson (506) and Jim Albus (505).

• Cochran's victory at the Senior British Open at Walton Heath made him the first left-hander to win a senior major championship since Bob Charles claimed his second Senior Open Championship in 1993. Charles' victories were unofficial titles at the time.

• Four different players, including Peter Senior twice, had bogey-free tournaments on the 2011 Champions Tour. Loren Roberts (T5), Hal Sutton (T15) and Senior (T29) all had bogey-free events at the Greater Hickory Classic at Rock Barn, the first time in Champions Tour history for three players in the same event. Corey Pavin (6th) was bogey-free in the season-opening event, the Mitsubishi Electric Championship at Hualalai, while Senior (5th) again was bogey-free in the AT&T Championship, the last full-field tournament of the season.

A Statistical Look at this year's Champions Tour...

• The most-difficult course for a non-major on the 2011 Champions Tour was the par-71, TPC Tampa Bay. At last year's Outback Steakhouse Pro-Am, the field averaged 72.216 or more than a stroke (1.216) over par. For the second straight year, the hardest hole in a non major was the par-4, 17th hole at The Woodlands Country Club. The hole played as the sixth most difficult overall on the Champions Tour, averaging 4.395 for the Insperity Championship. In 2010, the hole played to a stroke average of 4.407. The hardest overall hole was the par-4 16th at Valhalla with a stroke average of 4.512 for the Senior PGA Championship. The easiest hole on the circuit was the par-5, 4th hole at Hualalai. At the season-opening Mitsubishi Electric Championship at Hualalai, the hole played to an average score of 4.230 (-.770).

• For the first time since the 1981 season, there were no title defenses in 2011. The closest a player came to defending his championship this past year was Tom Watson who finished third in the season-opening Mitsubishi Electric Championship at Hualalai. In 2011, the defending champion was not able to play in three events.

• For the second straight year, there was a pair of wire-to-wire winners on the Champions Tour. Nick Price shot an opening-round 60 at the Toshiba Senior Classic and never looked back, winning in Newport Beach, Calif., by one stroke. Olin Browne led from start to finish at the U.S. Senior Open at Inverness GC near Toledo, becoming just the second player in championship history to go wire-to-wire, by matching the accomplishment of Dale Douglass (1986).

• Three players who were winners in 2009 but did not win in 2010, returned to the winners' circle in 2011. Mark McNulty teamed with David Eger to win the Liberty Mutual Legends of Golf. McNulty was out of action for a good portion of the 2010 season with right knee-replacement surgery. Jeff Sluman, a winner of the 2009 WalMart First Tee Open at Pebble Beach, claimed that same event in 2011. Jay Haas' win at the 2011 3M Championship was his first since the Constellation Energy Senior Players Championship. Who posted the longest time between wins in 2011? Bob Gilder's victory at the 2011 Principal Charity Classic was his first victory since the 2006 Constellation Energy Classic, ending a drought of four years, eight months, 13 days or 188 appearances.

• For the second straight year, Fred Couples had the most birdies in a 54-hole event on the Champions Tour, After making 23 at the Ensure Classic at Rock Barn, Couples tied Loren Roberts' all-time record for most birdies in a three-round event, making 26 birdies en route to winning the AT&T Championship. Roberts originally set the record at the season-opening MasterCard Championship at Hualalai in 2006.

• Fred Couples won the AT&T Championship by a whopping seven strokes, the largest margin of victory on the 2011 Champions Tour. In 2010, both David Frost (3M Championship) and Couples (Administaff Small Business Classic) won events by seven strokes. The largest come-from-behind effort in 2011 was by David Eger/Mark McNulty who made up four strokes and then won the Liberty Mutual Legends of Golf in a playoff. In individual stroke-play events, John Cook came from three strokes back to win the season-opening Mitsubishi Electric Championship at Hualalai.

• The best birdie streak in 2011 was six in a row by three different players. Tom Lehman had his streak of six in the third round of the Senior PGA Championship. Mike Goodes made six consecutive birdies in the opening round of the Greater Hickory Classic at Rock Barn. Russ Cochran carded six straight birdies in the first round of the Nature Valley First Tee Open at Pebble Beach.

• Russ Cochran was the only Champions Tour winner who was outside the top-20 after the first round. Cochran was T27 after the first round of the Senior British Open but went on to win at Walton Heath by two strokes. Brad Faxon trailed by six strokes (T8) after Round 1 of the rain-shortened Insperity Championship but his second-round 65 led to a one-stroke triumph.

• Jeff Sluman and Rod Spittle were the only two players to have played in all 24 official events on the 2011 Champions Tour. Sluman will go into the 2012 season with a streak of 28 straight events played on the Champions Tour. The last time he didn't play an event was at the 2010 Ensure Classic in Hickory, NC.

• The Champions Tour's overall scoring average was 71.17, the lowest average in the history of the circuit. The previous best was 71.39 in 2007.