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Blast From the Past: The Skins Game

My kids usually laugh at me when I insert “back in the day” into any conversation. To them it’s a signal that I’m going to be reminiscing about a time that was so much better than the way things are done today.

Sometimes I’m right, sometimes I’m not and most times I am just nostalgic. Thanksgiving weekend bought out one of those “back in the day” discussions.  skins game 1983

Back in the day there really was no Black Friday. Stores were never, ever open on Thanksgiving. There were only two NFL games and Detroit always had the opener.

The holiday and the weekend were meant for leftovers, football and family.

But, back in the day, in 1983 a new addition to Thanksgiving Weekend came on the scene that gave the NFL and turkey sandwiches a run for their money.

The PGA Tour and NBC television gave us one of the greatest Thanksgiving treats ever: The Skins Game.

Golf fans who were stuck inside on a cold November weekend had the chance to see the greats of the game play nine holes on Saturday and nine on Sunday. It was an attractive alternative to football and when they started the Skins Game they broke out the big, really big guns.

skins game logoOn that first Skins Game weekend we got to see the Big Three, Arnold Palmer, Gary Player and Jack Nicklaus pair up with Tom Watson for the original “must see TV.”

Making it more interesting was the fact that these greats of the game were mic’d up and we got to hear the chatter and the ribbing as they tried to beat their very good friends.

It was a thrill not just for us but for them too. You could see how excited they all were to be playing together for some fun and some serious cash.

The first Skins Game purse was $360,000, small change by today’s standards but consider this. The PGA Tour money leader that year earned $426,000. So a weekend with those stakes was one great deal.

The star power of the first few Skins Games made it one of the most fun and exciting weekends in golf.

Gary Player won that first year with the defining moment coming on the 17th green. Player sunk a four foot putt worth $150,000. That single putt was worth more than Player had ever earned in an entire season.

The following year in 1984 Tom Watson was showing the old guys a thing or two as he swept the front nine but the back nine all carried over to the 18th.

Jack Nicklaus stood over a winning putt that was worth $240,000. The Golden Bear dropped the putt and was so excited he tossed his putter into the air as he had at the 1970 Open Championship.

Jack’s biggest money year on the PGA Tour was 1972 when he won $316,911. We can understand why he reacted the way he did.

nicklaus 1983 skins 2

For a dozen years the Skins Game was great and pulled the best golfers and good ratings. Fuzzy Zoeller, Lee Trevino, Ray Floyd, Curtis Strange, Payne Stewart, Tom Watson and Fred Couples all won during its heyday with golfers like Nicklaus, Greg Norman and John Daly taking second.

As the golf season evolved into a worldwide, 52 week a year season the lure of the Skins Game waned.

The over exposure of professional golf and the ability of any player to cash a check every weekend of the year made the Skins Game obsolete. It was last played in 2008 with K.J. Choi topping Stephen Ames who won the two previous years. Enough said.

Two things made those early Skins Games so attractive. We had the four greatest players of the day paired together and it was new and fresh and exhilarating.

I don’t care what my kids say. Some things were better back in the day.

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