MAUNA LANI, Hawaii -- The four players who competed at the inaugural Skins Game in 1983 will get together again when theSenior Skins Game takes place Saturday at the Mauna Lani Resort.
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| Arnold Palmer, Tom Watson, Gary Player and Jack Nicklaus are turning back the clock one more time. |
Arnold Palmer, Jack Nicklaus, Tom Watson and Gary Player, who made up the original field 17 years ago at Desert Highlands in Scottsdale, Ariz., will be reunited for this year's 18-hole event.
Player won the first Skins Game with seven skins and $170,000. The same quartet squared off one year later, with Watson taking nine skins and $120,000.
Palmer, 70, will be competing in a record 12th Senior Skins Game, missing only the 1997 event due to prostate cancer. He won the title three times in the 1990s, most recently in 1993. Palmer is second on the Senior Skins money list behind Ray Floyd with $965,000 and third in skins won with 35.
Palmer won 70 titles in his career, including four Masters, two British Opens and one U.S. Open.
Nicklaus will be making his 10th appearance at the event. He won the 1991 title and is second in combined Skins and Senior Skins earnings with $1.595 million. Nicklaus, 60, underwent hip replacement surgery last season and encountered setbacks in his return to the links before returning at full strength late in 1999.
Nicklaus captured a record 20 major championships and more than 80 tournaments worldwide.
Watson will be making his first appearance in the Senior Skins Game after joining the Senior Tour last September. He is expected to play a little over a week after his father Raymond died last week in Hawaii.
Watson won eight major titles, including five British Opens, among 33 PGA Tour victories.
With a victory, Player could become the first to win a PGA-sanctioned event in six different decades. He will be playing in his fifth Senior Skins game.
Player, 64, has won more than 160 tournaments around the world and is one of only four players to win all four majors, along with Nicklaus, Ben Hogan and Gene Sarazen.
Hale Irwin won last year's event with seven skins and $230,000 and will defend his title in 2001 due to the special occasion of this year's event.
The low score on each hole wins the skin. The first six holes are worth $20,000 apiece, the next six $30,000, holes 13-17 are worth $40,000 and the 18th hole is worth a minimum of $100,000.
While the event has been split over two days in past years, all 18 holes will be played on Saturday.
The South Course of the Mauna Lani Resort is a par-72 layout measuring 6,938 yards.
