For the second year in a row, the Simmons Bank Championship has won one of the PGA Tour Champions’ premier end-of-season awards.
The three-day championship wrapped up Oct. 26 at Pleasant Valley Country Club in Little Rock and was honored on Tuesday with the President’s Award at the PGA Tour Champions’ annual tournament meetings in Ponte Vedra Beach, Fla. The Simmons Bank Championship won the circuit’s Players Award in 2024 after completing its inaugural stop as the second of three Charles Schwab Cup playoff events.
This season will conclude with the Charles Schwab Cup Championship on Nov. 13-16 in Phoenix. Simmons Bank Championship winner Steven Alker currently leads in the points standings, while Tag Ridings (University of Arkansas), who tied for second in Little Rock, is ranked 22nd in the 36-man field.
The President’s Award recognizes not only the criteria of all PGA Tour Champions awards, but also the unique qualities that make the tournament exceptional, the tour said in a news release announcing the winners. Other winners included Furyk and Friends (Players Award), Hoag Classic (Sales Award) and former PGA Tour and PGA Tour Champions winner Peter Jacobsen (Bruno Award).
The news release also said the Little Rock tournament was again a finalist for the this year’s Players Award, which is voted on by PGA Tour Champions players as their favorite event of the season and represents recognition for a tournament that goes above and beyond in the experience provided to the players.
“Of course, last year we didn’t know there was even an award for best tournament of the year,” said Simmons Bank Championship Tournament Chairman Freddie Black. “We set out in the fall of 2023 to have the best tournament we could have. This year was better than last year. We’re excited that the powers that be think we’re better than the rest. We’re sure proud of that distinction.”
The President’s Award also recognized the tournament for the first-year Caddie Shootout with 34 of the tournament caddies participating under the lights; complimentary hotels and a private dinner for the caddies; a private player-family dinner and a special outing for the players’ wives.
Along with presenting sponsor Stephens and numerous community partners, the tournament surpassed $5.3 million in local revenue. More than 900 volunteers and club members were also recognized in the news release.
“The community has embraced it, and the business community has been so good to support it in many ways,” Black said. “The volunteer effort around this tournament is just so hard to believe, that so many people jump in and are so willing to help.
“Such an important partner in this tournament is our marketing team. To have them involved is so critical to the look and feel in making it as nice as it can be. The Pro Links team is so awesome. To bring our marketing team in to be a part of everything, especially the look and feel of the tournament, it just takes it to another level.”
The Simmons Bank Championship has three years left on the PGA Tour Champions schedule. The tour announced last week that it was adding two new events in 2026, thus pushing the Little Rock event back a week to Oct. 30-Nov. 1.
“This year, the weather would have been better after the tournament,” Black said of this year’s tournament, which dealt with periods of rain throughout. “You never know. You always worry about the weather. We were challenged all three days, but we got the tournament in.
“The better players don’t have to come to Little Rock because they have enough points to move on. Most of them choose to be here. That speaks to the event. That speaks to how well they were treated in Little Rock and how well their caddies were treated.”
