Skins Game (PGA Tour)

The Skins Game was an unofficial-money event on the PGA Tour from 1983 to 2008. It took place in November or December each year after the end of the official PGA Tour season. It was recognized by the PGA Tour but did not count towards the official money list. It was most recently sponsored by LG and was officially known as the LG Skins Game, hosted at the Indian Wells Golf Resort in Indian Wells, California.

The Skins Game differed from most PGA Tour golf tournaments in several ways. Only four golfers were invited to the tournament and the golfers played to win individual holes or "skins" in a match play format. Each hole was assigned a different monetary value and the golfer who won the hole with the best score outright won the money for that hole. In the event that two or more golfers tie (which is called "halving") on a hole, the skins carried over to the next hole. In the event that two or more golfers halve the final hole, a playoff began until one golfer won a hole outright. (In a playoff that requires more than one playoff hole, if a player is not one of those that halve the playoff hole, he is eliminated—it was not "one tie, all tie".)

Fred Couples was given the nickname of "Mr. Skins" because of his dominance in the Skins Game. He won $3,515,000 and 77 skins in 11 appearances. He won five of the Skins Games overall.

The 2009 Skins Game, originally set for Thanksgiving weekend 2009, was canceled in May 2009 after LG pulled out of sponsorship.[1]

Prize money was awarded as follows in 2008:

Hole Prize money
(per hole)
1–6 $25,000
7–12 $50,000
13–17 $70,000
181 $200,000

1 This is known as a "super skin". The total prize money is exactly $1 million.[2]

Rule change

In 2001, the player winning a hole outright had to tie or win the next hole to collect his skins from the previous hole, called "validation".[3] This was very tough to do. Greg Norman was the only one that could back up his win on the previous hole. He won the 17th and tied for low on the 18th hole to collect $800,000, the largest skin collected for one hole. He won the $200,000 in a playoff to win the entire $1 million prize money. This rule was rescinded the following year.

Milestones

Winners

Year Winner Winnings Runner(s)-up
LG Skins Game
2008 K. J. Choi $415,000 Stephen Ames
2007 Stephen Ames (2) $675,000 Fred Couples
2006 Stephen Ames $590,000 Fred Couples
Merrill Lynch Skins Game
2005 Fred Funk $925,000 Tiger Woods
2004 Fred Couples (5) $640,000 Tiger Woods
The ConAgra Foods Skins Game
2003 Fred Couples (4) $605,000 Annika Sörenstam
Skins Game
2002 Mark O'Meara (2) $405,000 Phil Mickelson
2001 Greg Norman $1,000,000 Tiger Woods, Jesper Parnevik, Colin Montgomerie
2000 Colin Montgomerie $415,000 Vijay Singh
1999 Fred Couples (3) $635,000 Mark O'Meara
1998 Mark O'Meara $430,000 Tom Lehman
1997 Tom Lehman $300,000 Mark O'Meara
1996 Fred Couples (2) $280,000 Tom Watson
1995 Fred Couples $270,000 Corey Pavin
1994 Tom Watson $210,000 Fred Couples
1993 Payne Stewart (3) $280,000 Fred Couples
1992 Payne Stewart (2) $220,000 Fred Couples
1991 Payne Stewart $260,000 John Daly
1990 Curtis Strange (2) $225,000 Greg Norman
1989 Curtis Strange $265,000 Jack Nicklaus
1988 Raymond Floyd $290,000 Jack Nicklaus
1987 Lee Trevino $310,000 Jack Nicklaus, Fuzzy Zoeller
1986 Fuzzy Zoeller (2) $370,000 Lee Trevino
1985 Fuzzy Zoeller $255,000 Tom Watson
1984 Jack Nicklaus $240,000 Tom Watson
1983 Gary Player $170,000 Arnold Palmer

See also

References

  1. "Thanksgiving minus the Skins Game for first time". PGA Tour. November 24, 2009. Retrieved March 5, 2013.
  2. "For Mediate, selection into LG Skins game a surprise". PGA Tour. November 19, 2008. Retrieved March 5, 2013.
  3. Bonk, Thomas (December 1, 2002). "Everybody's a Winner at Skins Game". Los Angeles Times. Retrieved March 6, 2013.
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