BRIEFLY\Floyd takes 3rd Skins.

Byline: Daily News Staff and Wire Services

Ray Floyd won an unprecedented third consecutive Senior Skins title Sunday when he tapped in a 3-inch putt at the 15th hole, giving him eight skins and a two-day total of $240,000 in Kawaihae, Hawaii.

Floyd, in raising his Senior Skins winnings to $960,000 over a four-year span, trailed Jim Colbert by $120,000 through 14 holes of the tournament at the Mauna Lani Resort.

But at the day's second par 3, a 199-yard hole over water onto a peninsula, Floyd's shot gently plopped next to the cup to set up the tap-in.

Colbert finished second with seven skins and $180,000. bold! Arnold Palmer, at the 411-yard, 17th, won his first two skins, worth $80,000, with a 6-foot putt.

Jack Nicklaus, who won the event in 1991 and picked up $120,000 last year, failed to win any skins in regulation, but picked up the final $40,000 skin on the second extra hole. The extra holes were required because no one won the $40,000 on the last hole.

The team of Bruce Devlin and Larry Ziegler birdied the last three holes to win the $200,000 Treasure Coast Classic by a stroke in Vero Beach, Fla.

Ian Woosnam, who almost retired from golf because of a bad back last year, started the new European season by winning the Johnnie Walker Classic in Singapore in a playoff with Scotsman Andrew Coltart.

TENNIS

Cecil Mamiit of USC became the first freshman to win the title in the 14-year history of the Quadrax Future Champions tournament, defeating top-seeded senior Paul Robinson of Texas Christian 6-3, 3-6, 6-3 in Indian Wells. Mamiit earned a wild card into the $2.2 million Newsweek Champions Cup next month at the Hyatt Grand Champions resort.

The No. 3 team of Troy Budgen and Brad Scenery of Pepperdine defeated sixth-seeded Todd Nelson and Sven Salumaa 7-5, 6-4 to win the doubles championship and a berth in the Newsweek draw.

The International Tennis Federation refused to confirm a published report that tennis pros Mats Wilander and Karel Novacek tested positive for cocaine at last year's French Open.

The British tabloid News of the World also said Wilander and Novacek have denied drug use and hired lawyers to clear their names, and will challenge the validity of the tests.

WINTER SPORTS

Claudia Riegler, a 19-year-old New Zealander, and a former Austrian skier, won her first women's World Cup slalom in only her second year on the circuit, in Serre Chevalier, France.

Gianni Romme of the Netherlands won the men's 5,000 meter World Cup speed skating race in Beaselga di Pine, Italy, and leaped atop the event standings. Romme broke the track record in a time of 6 minutes, 47.42 seconds.

Former World Cup alpine skier Sondra Van Ert of Ketchum, Idaho, was the only woman to earn two medals at the FIS World Snowboard Championships when she earned bronze in the parallel slalom in Lienz, Austria.

Austria's Christian Rijavec won the men's aerials to finish off the three-day Westroc World Cup freestyle skiing meet in Mont-Tremblant, Quebec, Canada.

TRACK AND FIELD

Emma George of Australia twice broke her own world record for the women's pole vault during a Grand Prix track and field meet in Perth, Australia. George, who set her previous record of 14 feet, -1/2 inch in Perth last month, first bettered that with 14-1-1/4. She then cleared 14-5-1/2.

Ashley Johnson of Flagstaff, Ariz., surprised Bob Kempainen of Minneapolis by two strides to win the Super Bowl 10K Run in 29 minutes, 12 seconds in Redondo Beach.

ETC.

Ghana advanced to the African Cup of Nations soccer semifinals after a rough-and-tumble 1-0 victory over Zaire. . . .

In her first gymnastics meet in 18 months and with Olympic gymnast Shannon Miller off the floor, Jennie Thompson, 14, of Wichita Falls, Texas, took three top honors to lead Steve Nunno's Dynamos to a win in the Kodak/Peachtree Invitation in Atlanta.