Monday, December
2, 2002
Forgotten
O'Meara walks off with the most loot
By DOUG FERGUSON
AP Golf Writer
INDIO, Calif. (AP)
- Every now and then, Mark O'Meara can still get the best of Tiger
Woods.
Far more frequently,
someone with a camera gets to Woods.
O'Meara won the Skins
Game for his first victory of any kind in four years. He collected
three skins worth $210,000 with a 2-foot birdie putt on the 15th
hole, and secured the title Sunday with a 20-foot birdie putt
on the 17th.
"It's been a
while since I won anything," said O'Meara, whose last victory
came in the '98 Skins Game. That was the year he held off Woods
to win the British Open and also beat Woods in the final of the
World Match Play Championship in England.
The birdie on the
17th gave O'Meara eight skins and $405,000 over two days, and
removed all the suspense from the final hole _ a single skin worth
$200,000.
No suspense, but
plenty of action.
Woods needed to get
up-and-down for birdie from a back bunker on the par-5 18th to
keep Phil Mickelson from capturing the final skin. A man standing
directly behind Woods clicked his camera in the middle of his
swing, and Woods looked back in disgust as his ball rolled 15
feet by the hole.
"I flinched,"
Woods said. "I was lucky to keep the ball on the green."
Caddie Steve Williams
took the man's camera and dropped it in the lake.
Woods hasn't had
much luck with cameras this year. There was a bitter exchange
with a photographer on the first hole of the British Open, and
an early click cost Woods a chance of going bogey-free over 72
holes when he won the World Golf Championship in Ireland.
On Sunday, Woods
still had a birdie putt to force a playoff, but the ball slid
by on the right, and Mickelson won the $200,000 skin with a two-putt
birdie from 30 feet.
Mickelson, in danger
of being shut out on the final day, wound up in second place with
three skins and $300,000.
"I appreciate
the generosity of the other three players," Lefty said.
Fred Couples, who
played better than anyone Sunday but claimed only two skins, wound
up with $170,000. Woods was last with $125,000, winning his only
skin on the opening hole with an 18-foot eagle putt. He finished
with four skins over two days.
"That's better
than I usually do," Woods said. He had won only five skins
in his previous three Skins Games combined.
O'Meara was a forgotten
man in the Skins Game _ until he walked off with the most skins
and the most money, winning for the second time in four appearances
He got into the Conagra
Foods Skins Game primarily through his endorsement contract with
Toyota, one of the tournament sponsors. And he made the most of
it.
O'Meara doesn't hit
it as long as the other three, not by a mile. But he's one of
the best putters in golf, and the Skins Game rewards good timing
as much as anything.
O'Meara twice claimed
three skins on par 3s, both times tapping in from 2 feet. He also
won a single skin worth $50,000 on No. 12 with a wedge into 4
inches.
"I don't have
the length like Tiger and Phil. That was very evident out there,"
O'Meara said. "But it's still nerve-racking to stand over
a putt worth $200,000."
That was the turning
point of the Skins Game.
Everyone made par
on No. 13 _ the only hole Sunday on which no one made birdie _
and O'Meara made a 3-foot birdie on the 14th to make the next
hole worth three skins and $210,000, enough for the winner to
take a commanding lead.
O'Meara hit 6-iron
from 165 yards into about 2 feet, and won the three skins when
Couples missed a 10-foot birdie putt.
Couples missed a
12-foot birdie putt on the 17th _ he had seven birdie putts inside
15 feet Sunday _ that could have turned the 18th hole into winner-take-all.
"It's a letdown
for a second, and then you know that No. 18 is worth a lot of
money," Couples said. "Whether it's for $50,000 or $200,000,
the idea is to win a skin."
O'Meara did so with
a few timely shots. It was particularly gratifying, even for a
silly season event, because O'Meara had not won anything in four
years _ and because of the field.
"They're not
going to lie down for you," O'Meara said. "And you know
Tiger. He does not like losing at anything."
Divots:@ O'Meara
made nine birdies over two days, tying the Skins Game record set
by Couples in 1999. ... Woods' eagle on the 10th hole marked the
first time in Skins Game history that eagles won back-to-back
holes. Couples finished the first day by making an eagle on No.
9 ... Each player is donating 20 percent of his earnings to charity.
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