Wendy's Champions Skins Game: Pre-tournament Notebook  WAILEA, Hawaii -- The four-team field for the 2007 edition of the Wendy's Champion Skins Game includes Jack Nicklaus-Tom Watson, Arnold Palmer-Loren Roberts, Gary Player-Jay Haas and defending champions Ray Floyd-Dana Quigley. How accomplished are they? The eight players have amassed 553 victories worldwide, a total that encompasses PGA TOUR, Champions Tour, International, team and PGA Section events. The pairing of Jack Nicklaus and Tom Watson owns a combined 26 major championships and 170 titles -- and they're still 14 shy of the 184 worldwide victories amassed by Gary Player and Jay Haas. MAJORS. WE'VE GOT MAJORS: The eight players have combined for 46 PGA TOUR major championships, with Jack Nicklaus accounting for 18 of those. Gary Player (nine), Tom Watson (eight), Arnold Palmer (seven) and Ray Floyd (four) account for the rest. NOT A BAD TAKE, IF YOU'RE A SMALL COUNTRY: The eight players could start their own small country with their total earnings from tournament events alone. Just in official PGA TOUR, Champions Tour, international and team events, the eight have banked $103,886,508. MONEY, MONEY, MONEY: The purse this weekend totals $770,000. It breaks down thusly: DOING GOOD BY PLAYING GOOD: The players will donate 10 percent of their winnings to charity: 5 percent to the Dave Thomas Foundation for Adoption and 5 percent to their designated charities. GET TO KNOW YOUR HOST COURSE: The Wailea Golf Club Gold Course was designed by Robert Trent Jones Jr. in 1994. There are 93 bunkers sprinkled about, each filled with Idaho Silica Sand. The only water -- save for the ocean views -- is a lake that borders the tee box on No. 13 and the green on No. 14. The trademark of the Gold Course is the remnants of ancient lava rock walls that were built by early Hawaiians. The rock walls, called PAH-POH-HAH-KOO, can be seen numerous places throughout the course. SEVENTH HEAVEN: This is the seventh and final year Wailea Golf Club will host the Wendy's Champions Skins Game. It is the fourth site to host the event in its 20-year history. FLOYD'S BATTING .750: With his victory last year, Ray Floyd won his sixth Wendy's Champions Skins Game. En route to winning that sixth title in eight events, Floyd added another 10 skins and $255,000 to his career total of 67 skins and $1,885,000. Those career totals are second to Jack Nicklaus' 87 skins and $2,135,000. LET'S PLAY 19: When Ray Floyd rolled in his 10-foot birdie putt on the first extra hole, it marked the 15th time in 19 events that extra holes were needed to decide the Wendy's Champions Skins Game title. The extra hole was the 35th playoff hole in the event's history. GET THE FINAL WORD IN: If you have to go overtime, it behooves you to win that final skin, since the winner of that final skin has won nine of the 15 Wendy's Champions Skins Games that have required extra holes. WHY DON'T YOU GO FIRST: Only twice -- Ray Floyd in 1996 and Lee Trevino in 2003 -- has the winner of the first-hole skin gone on to win the event. The trend continued in 2006 when Jack Nicklaus and Tom Watson captured the first eight skins, yet fell $250,000 short of champions Floyd and Dana Quigley. On six occasions, with Trevino once again being the last to do it in 2003, the winner of the event's first skin has gone on to win. CAN ANYONE DO IT THIS YEAR?: In 2006, nobody managed to fatten their bank account on the drivable, 287-yard sixth hole, leaving that as the only hole on the Wailea Gold Course not to yield a skin. The players have one more chance to end that streak on Saturday. WELCOME TO THE CLUB, DANA: With his victory in last year's Wendy's Champions Skins Game, Dana Quigley joined a very select club that previous contained only one member -- Chi Chi Rodriguez in 1988. Quigley and Rodriguez are the only two players to end their event debut with a victory. There are two rookies in the 2007 field: Loren Roberts (who is teaming with Arnold Palmer) and Jay Haas (Gary Player). HEY, WE KNOW YOU GUYS: Conversely, Arnold Palmer is playing in his 19th Wendy's Champions Skins Game and Jack Nicklaus is playing in his 17th. Palmer owns three titles (1990, 1992-93). IMAGINE THAT, JACK'S ON TOP AGAIN: When it comes to event records, look no further than Jack Nicklaus, who owns marks for career front-nine earnings ($1,393,000), career earnings ($2,135,000), front-nine skins (58) and career skins (87). SO MUCH FOR THAT TREND: When Raymond Floyd and Dana Quigley surged ahead with skins on the 17th and 19th holes, it restored order of sorts to the Wendy's Champions Skins Game. For 11 of the first 18 years, the winner needed to come from behind on the back nine. Jack Nicklaus and Tom Watson briefly ended that trend with victories in 2005 and 2004, respectively. A RARE BIRD INDEED: There have only been five eagles carded in the 19-year history of the Wendy's Champions Skins Game and Jack Nicklaus owns four of them. He and partner Tom Watson both recorded eagles in 2004. FUNNY HOW THAT WORKS OUT: The 2006 Champions Tour Player of the Year, Jay Haas, is playing in his first Wendy's Champions Skins Game. But Haas told playing partner Gary Player that he's had a little "experience" in this format. "I teased Gary that when I was 8, 9, 10 years old in my backyard, I would play with the whiffle ball and I played with Gary, Jack (Nicklaus) and Arnold (Palmer) in a foursome every day in my backyard," he said. "I would announce the match going on and it seemed like I always came out on top." AN ISLAND TRADITION: As is customary in Hawaii, Father Kealahou Alika blessed the Wendy's Champions Skins Game in a 10-minute ceremony on the first tee Thursday morning. The blessing, part of Hawaiian culture, recognizes the hard work of the event participants, volunteers and staff and bestows on them wishes for success. WE'RE GOING TO THE DOGS, AND LOVING IT: As has become a tradition, the Hawaii Canines for Independence, a Maui-based nonprofit organization that provides specially trained assistance dogs to the physically disabled, is sponsoring a silent auction next to the clubhouse. Items up for bid include Hawaii vacations, golf packages, artwork, dinners and other items. Information: (808) 250-5799 or hawaiicanines.org. HE'S AT IT AGAIN, FOLKS: Recapping the 2006 Wendy's Champions Skins Game was like recapping the Wendy's Champions Skins Games from 1994-1998. Once again, fans and television viewers were treated to the sight of Raymond Floyd winning another Wendy's Champions Skins Game. Floyd, who won five consecutive events from 1994-98, proved he could play well with others when he and teammate Dana Quigley won 10 skins and $510,000. The $410,000 the pair won with Floyd's 8-foot birdie putt on the 17th hole set an event record for most money won on a single hole, the $510,000 haul broke Hale Irwin's 1992 record for most money won in a single event ($450,000) and the nine skins earned with that putt tied Jack Nicklaus' record from 1991. Copyright 2007 PGATOUR.com. All rights reserved. |
