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Friday, December 13, 2002
ABC Sports presents The Senior Skins Game
Arnold Palmer, Jack Nicklaus, Fuzzy Zoeller and defending champion Hale Irwin, four of the greatest golfers ever to play, will battle in this year's Senior Skins Game from Wailea Golf Resort in Maui, Hawaii.
The first nine holes of the Skins Game will be broadcast by ABC Sports on SATURDAY, JANUARY 26 (3-6 p.m. ET). The back nine holes will be televised on SUNDAY, JANUARY 27 (12:30-2:30 p.m. ET), on the ABC Television Network.
COMMENTATORS:
Roger Twibell will host the broadcast, with Ian Baker-Finch providing expert analysis. Andy North will serve as the on-course reporter.
MANNER OF PLAY:
Each hole serves as a tournament in itself. If no player wins the hole outright, the prize money is carried over to the next hole.
THE FIELD:
Owner of 92 career titles, including four Masters, two British Opens, one U.S. Open and one U.S. Amateur, ARNOLD PALMER will be playing in his 14th Senior Skins Game. He didn't play in 1997 because of prostate cancer. He won the SENIOR SKINS three times in the 1990s, most recently in 1993. Palmer is third on the Senior Skins Game money list, with $1,065,000, third in skins won, with 40, and fourth on the combined Skins/Senior Skins earnings list, with $1,310,000. He has lifetime earnings of $3,574,236 on the PGA TOUR and SENIOR PGA TOUR combined.
JACK NICKLAUS, considered by many to be the greatest player of all time, will be playing in the Senior Skins Game for the 12th time. The winner of an unprecedented 20 major championships, including six Masters, five PGA Championships, four U.S. Opens, three British Opens and two U.S. Amateurs, Nicklaus has won more than 80 tournaments throughout the world and has career earnings of $8,755,116. Named Golfer of the Century by GOLF Magazine in 1988 and by Golf Monthly U.K., in 1996, Nicklaus won the 1991 Senior Skins Game. He is No. 2 on the Senior Skins Game career money list ($1,295,000) and No. 3 on the combined Skins/Senior Skins money list, with $1,945,000. A five-time PGA TOUR Player of the Year, the PGA TOUR and SENIOR PGA TOUR Player of the Year honors now bear his name.
FUZZY ZOELLER, who turned 50 on Nov. 11, will make his debut on the SENIOR PGA TOUR in 2002. A 10-time winner on the PGA TOUR, including the 1979 Masters and the 1984 U.S. Open -- both in playoffs -- Zoeller is one of golf's most colorful and charismatic players. In his prime he was also one of the best players in the world and played on three Ryder Cup teams. Zoeller played in the Skins Game three times and was spectacular on Sunday the first two times. In his Skins Game debut in 1986 at Bear Creek in Temecula, Calif., Zoeller was blanked the first day, then won all nine skins on Sunday to win the title with nine skins and $255,000. In 1987 the Skins Game moved to the Stadium Course at PGA West and Zoeller came through again on Sunday, winning a record 14 skins and $310,000.
HALE IRWIN, who has earned $920,000 in four Senior Skins Games, became the first player to earn more than $2 million in a single season in 1997 ($2,343,364), when he tied a SENIOR PGA TOUR record with nine wins. He added seven wins and a record $2,861,945 in 1998. Irwin captured 20 titles on the PGA TOUR, including the U.S. Open in 1974, 1979 and 1990, and has added a record 32 titles in seven years on the SENIOR PGA TOUR. His combined career earnings equal $19,887,905.
PRIZE MONEY:
In the Senior Skins Game, each hole is a tournament in itself, with the prize money carried over if no player wins a hole outright. The $600,000 total purse is broken down to $20,000 for each of the first six holes, $30,000 for each of the middle six holes, $40,000 each for holes 13 through 17, and $100,000 for the 18th hole. The players donate 10 percent of their winnings to the charity of their choice.
2001 SENIOR SKINS GAME:
Irwin won the 2001 Senior Skins Game with seven skins and $320,000. He won the final six skins and $180,000 with a birdie on the first playoff hole. Nicklaus, who finished second with 10 skins and $260,000, could have won if he had missed a four-foot birdie putt on the 18th hole. If Nicklaus had missed the putt, Gary Player would have won the six skins and $180,000 and Nicklaus would have been the Senior Skins Game champion. Nicklaus made the putt to halve the hole and force a playoff.
THE COURSE:
The Wailea Gold Course is the most challenging of Wailea Golf Club's trio of courses. Designed by Robert Trent Jones Jr., the 7,078-yard Gold has been widely lauded as one of the world's best-designed golf courses.
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