Wendy's Champions Skins Game: First-day notebook

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KAANAPALI, Hawaii -- Day 1 of the 2009 Wendy's Champions Skins Game brought pre-event "favorites" Greg Norman and Jay Haas to the front of the line. Norman drained an 8-foot putt on the first hole to capture $30,000, then Haas sank a 9-foot birdie on No. 3 for another two skins and $60,000.

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Ben Crenshaw's prowess on the greens was evident again on Saturday.

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Defending co-champion Fuzzy Zoeller and Ben Crenshaw joined the fray on No. 4, when Zoeller rolled in a 35-foot birdie for $30,000. Shut out on Day 1 were the teams of Jack Nicklaus/Tom Watson and Gary Player/Bernhard Langer. That means six skins and $220,000 are up for grabs on No. 10 Sunday morning.

SPOILERS: Watson provided the most glaring spoil of the day and he waited until the second-to-last shot of the day to pull it off. With Norman/Haas and Zoeller/Crenshaw staring at bogey and Langer starting at a 2½-foot par putt, Watson sank a gritty, 10-foot par putt to steal $180,000 from Langer and teammate Player.

"I didn't worry about the speed too much. I was just thinking about the line; trying to get the right now and fortunately it went right in the middle of the hole," Watson said.

SPOILERS... THE SEQUEL: The event's fun nature was personified after the completion of the final hole Saturday, when Nicklaus was practicing a pitch shot he faced moments earlier. Nicklaus, who hit his shot 10 feet past the pin (leaving Watson with that clutch par putt), watched as Langer casually walked by, grabbed Nicklaus' practice shot out of the air, then playfully stuffed it in his pocket to the delight of the crowd.

OFF TO THE CLINIC: Right after battling their counterparts and a difficult Royal Kaanapali course, Zoeller and Crenshaw headed to the range to put on a clinic for the Maui Junior Golf Association, where Player joined them. The Saturday clinic is a Wendy's Champions Skins Game tradition.

WE HAVEN'T SEEN THIS IN A WHILE: The front-nine blanking of Nicklaus/Watson is remarkable on numerous fronts, not the least of which being the end of an amazing front-nine dominance by Nicklaus in this event. This is the first time since 1999 (when Nicklaus didn't play due to hip replacement surgery) that Nicklaus was blanked on Day 1.

You'd have to go back another year -- to 1998 -- to see the last time Nicklaus teed it up and didn't win a front-nine skin. He holds the event record for front-nine skins with 68 and front-nine cash ($1,350,000).

WHERE ARE ALL THE BIRDIES?: Last year, Royal Kaanapali surrendered 19 birdies to the four teams. This year -- with a little help from the trade winds -- the course is exacting its revenge. The players managed only five birdies on the front-nine, with Norman/Haas accounting for two, Zoeller/Crenshaw accounting for two and Player/Langer accounting for one. In 2008, the front-nine yielded nine birdies.

HISTORY IS A KIND MISTRESS HERE: While event rookie Langer still seeks his first skin, he can take solace from recent history. In 2007, event rookie Haas earned his first skins on Day 2 after being shut out and last year, Zoeller and Peter Jacobsen not only earned their first skins on Day 2, but earned enough to win the 2008 Wendy's Champions Skins Game.