Wendy's Champions Skins Game: Day 1 Notebook

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KAANAPALI, Hawaii -- Day 1 of the 2008 Wendy's Champions SKINS GAME bore a striking resemblance to 2007 -- with Jack Nicklaus and Tom Watson atop the leaderboard. The defending champions' strategy of letting Nicklaus take the majority of putts paid off when Nicklaus drained a 10-foot birdie putt on the fourth hole for three skins and $90,000 and a 15-footer on No. 9 for five more skins and $180,000.

Leaping out to the early lead was the team of Gary Player and Loren Roberts, who rode Roberts' silky putter to the first skin and $30,000. Shut out on the first day were the teams of Arnold Palmer and Jay Haas and Fuzzy Zoeller and Peter Jacobsen.

CAN I GET EXTRA CHILI WITH THAT?: Going to the caddies of the winning team on the ninth and 18th holes is a year's gift card to Wendy's, meaning Steve Nicklaus (Jack's son and caddie) and Todd Newcomb (Watson's caddie) will get their fill of burgers for the year. It's the third time in the last four years that Steve Nicklaus has won his fill of Wendy's food.

IT'S JACK: When it comes to front-nine skins, it usually begins and ends with Jack Nicklaus, who padded his front-nine career skins total to 68 and his career total to 104. The $135,000 (half of the team total of $270,000 he and teammate Tom Watson earned) pushes Nicklaus' front-nine earnings to $1,558,000 and his total take to $2,430,000.

IT'S JACK... AND TOM: The $270,000 earned by Jack Nicklaus and Tom Watson on the front nine is a Wendy's Champions SKINS GAME record for front-nine money earned. The previous record of $260,000 was held by -- Nicklaus and Watson, who set the mark two years ago in the first year of the alternate-shot, team format. The eight skins earned ties the record for front-nine skins in the event.

SPOILERS: Two of the finest shots of the first day resulted in nothing more than a halve. The first came on the sixth hole, when Jack Nicklaus holed out a 45-foot bunker shot for an improbable birdie. That canceled out Gary Player's 15-foot birdie putt moments later. The second came one hole later, when Loren Roberts -- considered one of the best putters in the world -- proved why when he snaked home a marvelous, downhill 25-foot birdie putt. That spoiled the best chance Fuzzy Zoeller and Peter Jacobsen had for getting on the scoreboard because Jacobsen drained his 8-foot birdie minutes later.

STILL LOOKING FOR THAT FIRST SKIN: Fuzzy Zoeller returns to the Wendy's Champions SKINS GAME for the first time since 2002. For partner Peter Jacobsen, it's his first trip back since 2006. And both of the most charismatic players on the Champions Tour enter Sunday's final day seeking their first skin.