Senior Skins will remain at Wailea through 2005
Advertiser Staff
Following in the footsteps of Hawai'i's regular tour events, The Senior Skins Game and Wailea Golf Resort Inc. have extended their contract to keep the tournament at Wailea through 2005.
Senior Skins moved to Maui last year after an 11-year run at Mauna Lani. The exhibition started in 1988 at Turtle Bay, and was played the following year at La Quinta in California.
The 2002 Senior Skins will be Jan. 26 at Wailea's Gold Course. Arnold Palmer, Jack Nicklaus, Hale Irwin and Fuzzy Zoeller will participate. They have won 33 major championships between them, and range in age from 50 (Zoeller) to 72 (Palmer).
The Pro-Am will be Jan. 25, beginning at 9:30 a.m. All 18 Skins holes will be played Jan. 26, from 10 a.m. ABC will broadcast the first 12 holes Jan. 26 and the final six Jan. 27.
Irwin is the defending champion, winning seven skins and $320,000 last year. He took the final six skins with a birdie on the first playoff hole. In a quirk of the game, Nicklaus could have won if he had missed a four-foot putt on the 18th hole. He made it and finished second.
The tournament has a $600,000 purse. The first six holes are worth $20,000 each, the next six $30,000, Nos. 13-17 $40,000 and the final hole $100,000. A player must win the hole outright to collect. If not, money carries over to the next hole.
Players donate 10 percent of their winnings to a charity of their choice.
During the break on Jan. 26, expected to be around 1 p.m., a dozen finalists will compete in the Betsill Brothers Hit for a Maui Home contest. Should a finalist make a hole-in-one on the 150-yard shot, he or she will win a new home on Maui valued at $500,000.
Donations collected during the qualifying events benefit Kihei Little League, Kihei Canoe Club and the Family Life Center.
• Wailea donates $100K: Wailea Golf Resort Inc. raised $104,095 with its pledge to donate $5 for every round played during a two-month period to those hurt by the tragedies of Sept. 11.
The money has been donated to the American Red Cross Hawai'i Chapter ($35,000), Hawai'i Community Foundation ($25,000), Maui Food Bank ($15,000), Maui Economic Opportunity ($15,000) and the Salvation Army ($14,095).
• First Open qualifier: For the first time, the U.S. Golf Association has given Hawai'i its own U.S. Women's Open qualifier. It will be May 20 at Waialae Country Club.
This year's U.S. Women's Open is July 4-7 at Prairie Dunes Country Club in Hutchinson, Kan.
Call the Hawai'i State Women's Golf Association (589-2046) for more information.
• Wailea shop recognized: Wailea Golf Club received one of 22 Gold Medalist Awards from Golf Magazine and was honored as one of Golf World Business Magazine's 100 Best Golf Shops.
The Golf Magazine Award is a biennial honor based upon feedback provided by 23,000 subscribers.
The survey is based 60 percent on golf experience and 40 percent on accommodations, services, meals, ambience and overall experience.
Golf World Business Magazine's 100 Best Golf Shops Award recognizes resort, public and private golf shops for excellence in merchandising and customer service. This is the sixth time Wailea has received the honor.
