Advertisement - Click to support our sponsors.
Monday, January 29, 2001
WAILEA, Maui -- The irony wasn't lost on Jack Nicklaus. Irwin wraps
Senior Skins with
thanks to NicklausThe Golden Bear could have
won the event if he had
missed a short puttBy Bill Kwon
Star-BulletinHe stood over a 4-foot birdie putt at the 18th hole of the Senior Skins Game at the Wailea Gold Course yesterday.
"If I miss the putt, I win. If I make the putt I have a chance to lose," Nicklaus said.
He made the putt and lost.
It's one of the paradoxical situations in a skins game.
"It's a hiccup in the format," said Hale Irwin, who went on to win the 2001 Senior Skins Game by winning the final three skins worth $180,000 on the first playoff hole to overtake Nicklaus.
Nicklaus called it a dilemma. But it wasn't, really. It never occurred to him to miss a putt deliberately, no matter the situation.
"I would never miss a putt on purpose, I promise you," he said before sinking that "losing" putt."It would have been smart to miss that putt, but I'm not made that way," said Nicklaus, adding jokingly after he made the putt, "I want to stab myself."
"There was never any doubt in my mind," said Irwin, who was in a similar situation two years ago. "He was never going to miss anything purposely."
"Players like Arnie, Jack and Gary will never try to miss. Those guys never, ever, will never sacrifice the integrity of the game."
This was the situation:
Nicklaus already had $260,000 in the bank, collecting $200,000 with a 25-foot birdie at the 12th hole to go along with what he had earned Saturday.
That had mathematically eliminated the other two golf legends in the field -- Arnold Palmer and Gary Player.
Irwin, who picked up $120,000 on three skins at No. 15, was still in contention with $140,000 and $180,000 still riding.
Player birdied the regulation 18 and the money would have been his -- if Nicklaus had missed.
But Nicklaus covered Player's birdie to give Irwin the reprieve he needed.
"If Jack misses that putt, he wins," Player said. "It was a very interesting situation."
On the 378-yard playoff hole, Irwin stiffed his approach shot from a sand divot in the fairway to within three feet for a birdie-3 that nobody could cover.
"I was very disappointed in the final outcome, but it was my own doing," said Nicklaus, who just missed a birdie attempt before Irwin sank his putt.
Irwin finished with $320,000 on just seven skins to $260,000 for Nicklaus, who had 10 skins. Palmer picked up the other skin, which was worth $20,000, while Player -- last year's Senior Skins Game winner at Mauna Lani -- was shut out.
The "Kid" of the group at age 56, Irwin marveled at how Nicklaus, Player and Palmer are still competitive.
"It was the Big 3 and Me," Irwin said.
"That's the best I've seen Jack play in years. I hope he continues to play like that. It'll help all of us (on the Senior Tour)."
NOTES: The four golf hall of famers were impressed by the large galleries both Saturday and yesterday as the event moved to the Wailea Resort after 11 years at Mauna Lani. ... "A change of venue is good for the event," said Irwin, who won it for the second time in three years. He gave up his spot last year to Tom Watson. "That was a great crowd. They were standing in the dark watching us on the practice range," Irwin added. ... Wailea will host the Senior Skins Game again in 2002.