`TIGER SKINS' MAY BE HUGE TV DRAW.

Byline: Ken Peters Associated Press 

LA QUINTA - John Daly thanked him. Tom Watson teased him. Fred Couples said he deserves all the good things happening to him.

Tiger Woods is very popular, even with the guys he'll be trying to beat out of hundreds of thousands of dollars in his Skins Game debut this weekend.

Much as he did for the PGA Tour over the past three months, the 20-year-old Woods has revitalized the Skins Game, which had been fading with age.

The made-for-TV event, which sank to its lowest ratings ever in 1995, is abuzz this year, with the two-day match expected to attract one of golf's largest television audiences in history.

Requests for media credentials are four times the normal rate, at ``140 and rising,'' a tournament official said Friday. And tickets, limited to a sale of 10,000, have gone briskly.

The ``other three'' players in the foursome for the ``Tiger Skins,'' do not appear resentful for being squeezed into the wings while Woods is center stage.

``It's great. It's wonderful what he can do with a golf ball,'' said Daly, who's still officially the longest hitter on the tour (288.8 yards per drive this year) only because Woods (302.8 yards) didn't play enough tournaments to qualify for that distinction.

``It takes a heck of a lot of pressure off me,'' Daly said of Woods' arrival. ``He's the new kid on the block, and he hits it a mile. It's just going to be a blast to play with him, in future tournaments as well.

``It's made me want to grind a lot harder, get my game back in shape.''

Watson, 47, who won the first skin ever in a Skins Game, in 1983, noted that Woods was only about 6 at the time.

Watson, who said he was going to be a spectator this time, watched Woods blow drives past him. Then he turned serious, looking Woods in the eye and saying, ``Tiger, you've got the world in front of you.''

Couples, who won $270,000 in the Skins Game last year with a birdie on the fifth playoff hole, said Woods has lived up to his billing.

``Tiger obviously is great for the Tour,'' Couples said. ``If he had come out and missed some cuts, things would have dwindled down a little.

``But he's come out and finished third a couple of times, first a couple of times, and that's never been done.''

While the others may not like having attention diverted away from them, Woods is finding there are some adjustments now that he's a sports celebrity.

``It's hard for me to just go out and eat dinner because of people asking for autographs, even when my mouth's full,'' he said, smiling.

Woods, who played in seven tour events after turning pro three months ago, won twice, finished third twice and had five top-10 finishes, earning a total of $791,194.

Asked if he was going to feel pressure in the Skins Game, which has a total purse of $540,000, Woods smiled and replied, ``As my father says, it's not my money, anyway.''

The foursome plays nine holes Saturday at Rancho La Quinta Country Club, then nine more Sunday. The first six holes are worth $20,000 each, the next six $30,000 and the last six $40,000.

The low scorer wins a hole, a ``skin,'' and the prize money. If two players tie, that money carries over to the next hole and all four players are back in the hunt.

The pot - and the drama - builds substantially if several holes are tied, as was the case last year, when Couples cashed in on the fifth playoff hole.`

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Photo

Photo: Tiger Woods needs an escort as he goes through the crowd to the next hole at Friday's Skins Game pro-am.

Associated Press