SKINS GAME: WOODS WOWS 'EM AT SKINS SHAKY MICKELSON LEADS WITH $100,000 ON FRONT.Byline: Larry Morgan Staff Writer INDIO - Phil Mickelson Philip Alfred Mickelson (born June 16, 1970) (nicknamed "Lefty" for his left-handed swing, even though he is otherwise right-handed), is an American professional golfer. He is one of the leading players of his generation, having won three major championships and a total of 32 , a first-time participant in the Skins Game, remembers watching the inaugural competition in 1983 and enjoying how it helped turn the sport from competition to entertainment. There was plenty of the latter during Saturday's front nine. All four players - Mickelson, Fred Couples Frederick Stephen Couples (born October 3, 1959) is an American professional golfer and former World No. 1 who competes on the PGA Tour. He has won numerous events, and is most famous for winning the 1992 Masters Tournament. , Mark O'Meara Mark Francis O'Meara (born January 13, 1957) is a professional golfer who was a prolific tournament winner on the PGA Tour and around the world from the mid 1980s to the late 1990s. In 2007 he entered his first season on the Champions Tour. and Tiger Woods  Editing of this page by unregistered or newly registered users is currently disabled. - collected at least one skin, and the quality of golf ranged from
memorable to embarrassing. There were birdies on each of the last seven
holes, and O'Meara and Woods each shot 4-under-par 32.
On the other end of the spectrum was the erratic er·rat·ic adj. 1. Having no fixed or regular course; wandering. 2. Lacking consistency, regularity, or uniformity: an erratic heartbeat. 3. Mickelson missing fairway after fairway - he even had to hit one shot right-handed out of a shrub shrub, any woody, perennial, bushy plant that branches into several stems or trunks at the base and is smaller than a tree. Shrubs are an important feature of permanent landscape planting, being used for formal decorative groups, hedges, screens, and background - until sinking a 4-foot putt on the par-3 eighth hole to win two skins worth $100,000. Couples also was out of the loop until he won one skin worth $50,000 on the par-5 ninth, where he hit a 5-iron second shot from 192 yards to within 4 feet on the 507-yard hole. O'Meara won the first three skins (worth $75,000) when he birdied the par-3, 192-yard third hole from inside 2 feet. But it was Woods, who also finished the day with three skins and $75,000, who arguably ar·gu·a·ble adj. 1. Open to argument: an arguable question, still unresolved. 2. That can be argued plausibly; defensible in argument: three arguable points of law. had the shot of the day. Woods, who has a knack for eliciting looks of stunned stun tr.v. stunned, stun·ning, stuns 1. To daze or render senseless, by or as if by a blow. 2. To overwhelm or daze with a loud noise. 3. disbelief from his fellow competitors, hit a 267-yard 3-wood to within 15 feet on the par-5 sixth hole that Couples found hard to comprehend. Woods barely missed the putt, but Couples was impressed to say the least. ``It was absolutely incredible,'' he said. ``One of the best shots I've ever seen. That was like a pitching wedge from 270 (yards).'' O'Meara begged to differ. He and Woods not only are neighbors in Orlando, Fla., but frequent practice partners. ``I play with him all the time,'' O'Meara said. ``It's not unusual for me to witness. I see those a lot.'' Woods, who was heard on camera saying, ``Oh baby, come on ... come on'' when the shot headed toward the green, said he found Saturday gratifying grat·i·fy tr.v. grat·i·fied, grat·i·fy·ing, grat·i·fies 1. To please or satisfy: His achievement gratified his father. See Synonyms at please. 2. because there was no validation required to collect a skin. Tournament organizers did away with last year's format, in which a player who won a skin had to win the next hole or match the lowest score to keep the money he earned from the previous hole. ``I think it's great we don't have it,'' he said. ``Last year was tougher than we thought. We found out how difficult it is, especially when it was three against one. ``But it's great to be on the board. It's great that everybody's on the board.'' Said Mickelson: ``The funny thing about skins, if you can hit it like I did, all over the map, and you still can get chances to win a skin. It's not necessarily who plays the best, and Tiger certainly did today, but who gets the opportunities. ``When I came to the third hole,'' Mickelson said, referring to the first two holes that were halved halve tr.v. halved, halv·ing, halves 1. To divide (something) into two equal portions or parts. 2. To lessen or reduce by half: halved the recipe to serve two. 3. with pars, ``I felt fresh. I was still in on all of the skins.'' Which is exactly the nature of the competition, O'Meara said. ``It comes down to how somebody can step in there and turn the tide,'' he said. ``These guys are good.'' CAPTION(S): photo Photo: Tiger Woods celebrates after winning his first skin with a birdie on the fifth hole in the Skins Game. Doug Benc/Associated Press |
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