Caddies to swing the clubs at ADT Golf Skills Challenge

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NEW YORK -- In an innovative format change, the ADT Golf Skills Challenge will team PGA TOUR caddies with the prominent PGA TOUR players they work for in the 17th annual competition this fall. The event is set for Monday, Nov. 3, at The Fairmont Turnberry Isle Resort & Club in Aventura, Fla.

The $820,000 in prize money at stake far exceeds any amount caddies have ever played for in their occasional efforts at swinging, instead of carrying, the clubs.

Professional golfers in the field are Greg Norman, Peter Jacobsen, Fred Couples and Rocco Mediate. They will be joined by affiliated caddies, in order, Greg Norman Jr., Mike "Fluff" Cowan, Joe LaCava and Matthew Achatz, all known for their professional bag-toting skills and their ability to play the game.

In recent years, tournament officials invited LPGA stars including Annika Sorenstam, Paula Creamer and Natalie Gulbis to compete with the men, and major sports celebrities John Elway, Dan Marino, Jerry Rice, Roger Clemens and Mark McGwire have also played.

"It's time to let the caddies show what they can do," said Jon Miller, Executive Vice President of NBC Sports. "Our unique format provides the flexibility to deliver provocative matchups like top sports celebrities versus the PGA TOUR's best. Now, let's put the caddies under the pressure of galleries, TV cameras and high-stakes prize money."

The competition, sanctioned by the PGA TOUR, will be taped for broadcast on NBC Sports on Dec. 27 and 28, as the only golf on network television that final weekend of the year.

The teams are set as follows:

• Peter Jacobsen and Mike "Fluff" Cowan
• Fred Couples and Joe LaCava
• Greg Norman and Greg Norman, Jr.
• Rocco Mediate and Matthew Achatz

The field competes in a series of eight events: long drive, greenside bunker, putting, long iron, trouble shot, fairway bunker, chip shot and the culminating skill, short iron.

The total prize money follows:
• First Place - $250,000
• Second Place- $150,000
• Third Place - $135,000
• Fourth Place - $125,000

With each skill also awarding $20,000, total prize money is $820,000. In addition, each skill won by a team among the first seven gives that team an extra shot to put the short iron close in the final, and usually decisive, skill.

Over the years, the ADT Golf Skills Challenge has featured the biggest names in golf, including Arnold Palmer, Jack Nicklaus, Phil Mickelson, Nick Faldo, Padraig Harrington, Paul Azinger, Nick Price, Colin Montgomerie and Jason Gore, among others.

Last year, the team of Gulbis and Elway took first place. In 2003, McGwire astoundingly won the individual competition, outperforming a field of Azinger, Norman, Faldo, Harrington, Jacobsen, Montgomerie, Dudley Hart and Rich Beem.

The 2008 ADT Skills Challenge will be played on The Fairmont Turnberry Isle's Soffer golf course, redesigned by World Golf Hall of Fame inductee Raymond Floyd.

Biographical detail on the players follows:

Jacobsen

Peter Jacobsen, 54, known for his colorful personality and popularity with fans, became one of the oldest golfers to win on the PGA Tour with his victory at the 2003 Greater Hartford Open at the age of 49. A native of Portland, OR, he was inducted into the Oregon Sports Hall of Fame in 2003. He has won seven PGA TOUR titles and two Champions Tour majors, the 2004 U.S. Senior Open and the 2005 Senior Players Championship. He boasts 13 professional wins overall. Jacobsen currently has two shows on GOLF CHANNEL, Peter and Friends and Peter Jacobsen Plugged In.

Cowan

Mike "Fluff" Cowan, is well known as Tiger Woods' first professional caddie and as the long-time bag-toter for Peter Jacobsen and, now, Jim Furyk. The number one player on the golf team at William Penn University (Oskaloosa, IA), Cowan is a former scratch player who now carries a five handicap. He twice won the PGA TOUR Caddie Tournament in the late 70s and early 80s after launching his career in golf as an assistant pro at Martindale Country Club in Auburn, Maine. Married with a five-year-old daughter, Cowan grew up in Winslow, ME (outside Augusta) and now resides in Potomac, Md.. Now 60, he is the oldest junior member at Congressional Country Club as part of his wife's family membership.

Couples

Fred Couples, 49, known for his distance and his ability to get out of trouble, has been named PGA TOUR Player of the Year twice in his 28-year professional career. A native of Seattle, Wash., Couples resides in Montecito, Calif. He won The Masters in 1992 and has had four other top-10 finishes in majors. He has also been named to the United States Ryder Cup Team five times. Couples is a regular participant in the LG Skins Game and is at times referred to as "Mr. Skins" because of his dominance in that event.

LaCava

Joe LaCava, 44, has been a professional caddie since 1987. A native of Newtown, Conn., he started with renowned PGA tour pro Ken Green out of nearby Danbury. He hooked up with Fred Couples in 1990 after a four-week trial that included Couples' win that year in the Los Angeles Open and they've been together ever since. Formerly a five handicap when he played at Newtown High School and Western Connecticut College, LaCava now carries a seven. Currently residing in Southbury, Conn., he is married with two children, a nine-year-old boy and an 11-year-old girl.

Greg Norman, 53, known as "The Shark" for his homeland and aggressive golf style, has won two major championships -- the 1986 and 1993 British Opens. A native of Queensland, Australia, he currently resides in Hobe Sound, Fla., following his June wedding to former tennis champion, Chris Evert. Highlights of his 34-year professional career include a 331-week stint as the world's top-ranked player, 87 career wins and countless other awards for accomplishments and philanthropy both on and off the course. Norman was inducted into the World Golf Hall of Fame in 2001.

Greg Norman Jr., 23, a four-year golf team letterman in high school at the Benjamin School in Palm Beach Gardens, has caddied for his father in multiple tournaments, including the British Open. He currently plays to a two handicap and has competed in such prestigious tournaments as the Del Webb Father and Son and the AT&T Pebble Beach National Pro-Am. Norman is a recent graduate of the University of Miami and he competes as a professional kiteboarder.

Mediate

Rocco Mediate, 45, considered to be one of the preeminent putters in golf, is known best for his performance in the 2008 U.S. Open when he finished second to Tiger Woods in an 18-hole playoff. A native of Greensburg, PA, he currently resides in Naples, FL. He has had five PGA Tour wins including the 1991 Doral-Ryder Open, 1993 Kmart Greater Greensboro Open, 1999 Phoenix Open, 2000 Buick Open and 2002 Greater Greensboro Chrysler Open, and has placed in the top 10 in four major championships. His 1991 win in the Doral-Ryder Open made him the first player to ever win on the PGA TOUR using a long putter.

Matt Achatz, 33, Rocco Mediate's caddie for his 2008 U.S. Open second place finish, began his career in 2003 at Whistling Straights (Kohler, WI), after working for three seasons as an Assistant Golf Pro at St. Clair (MI) Country Club (suburban Detroit). He then went on to caddie at Calusa Pines in Naples, Fla., Oakland Hills Country Club (suburban Detroit) and East Hampton Golf Club in Long Island, N.Y.. Achatz (pronounced ACK--ETTS first received the opportunity to caddie for Mediate in the FBR Open, formerly known as the Phoenix Open, this past January. Achatz, a scratch golfer earlier this decade, now plays to a five. He played high school (St. Clair HS) and college (St. Clair County CC) golf in his hometown of St. Clair and now resides in Naples, Fla.