Dream field tees off at Wailea

By Ann Miller
Advertiser Staff Writer

Four guys who have lived a golf dream and four women in the midst of living theirs come together at Wailea on Maui this weekend for the ConAgra Foods Champions and LPGA Skins Games.

Tomorrow's Champions — formerly Seniors — showdown pits Hale Irwin, who has won his past three Skins Games, against the awesome threesome of Arnold Palmer, Jack Nicklaus and Lee Trevino.

Sunday's LPGA Skins picks up after a five-year absence and dramatic site change. From 1990 to '98 it was played in Frisco, Texas.

Laura Davies won her second Skins title when the event was last held. She is "defending" against Annika Sorenstam, the 1997 winner, Karrie Webb and Laura Diaz, this year's only Skins rookie.

Diaz won her first two LPGA tournaments last year, which leaves her a few short of her opponents. Webb has won 28 times, Davies 20 and Sorenstam has 42 LPGA titles —19 the past two years.

"Annika inspires me to work out harder, practice longer and dream bigger," Diaz says.

Not that Diaz, the lone American, is intimidated. Her reaction to her Skins invitation was "when and where." Maui was just a bonus.

"I was ready to go," says Diaz, who has been here since Sunday. "It is such an amazing opportunity and I feel honored to be here."

If Diaz's career accomplishments are petite next to her colleagues' they are dwarfed by the Champions, who are all members of the World Golf Hall of Fame.

Palmer, 73, is playing in his 15th senior skins — winning three — and has captured 92 tournament titles. Nicklaus, who turned 63 Tuesday is in his 13th skins and has 20 major championships among his 83 tour victories. Trevino, 63, has won 29 times on both the regular and senior tours.

"One thing that has made Nicklaus, Palmer and Trevino so successful is that they are uncompromising in their efforts," Irwin says. "They all have great charisma, enviable playing records and without a doubt are three of the greatest men to ever play the game. It's an honor to be on the same course with them."

Irwin's numbers are still multiplying. He won 20 times on the PGA Tour, including his third U.S. Open at age 45. Since joining the Champions, he has won 36 times. He became the tour's first $3 million man last year when he won four titles.

At 57, he is the oldest to win the tour money title, but at least five years younger than his opponents. Nicklaus adds that because Irwin is so fit, he "plays like a person much younger than his age."

The magic of the Skins format — where nothing carries over hole-to-hole except cash — is that all still have a legitimate shot to win. The design of Wailea's Gold Course enhances that free-for-all feeling.

"The course is set up well for senior golf," says Nicklaus, who has lost 20 pounds in the past year. "It's set up in a way so that Arnold Palmer, Hale Irwin, Lee Trevino or Jack Nicklaus can win."

While Irwin and Trevino are playing relatively full schedules, Nicklaus and Palmer are making no promises this season beyond next week's MasterCard Championship, the tour opener at Hualalai on the Big Island.

"Arnold and I have had countless battles over the years," Nicklaus says, "and there is not a single time where we don't go out there and have a great deal of fun and, at the same time, want to beat each other. I think Arnold will tell you that he has a bit of a hard time competing in a full event. But in an event like this, he is just as competitive as anyone you could put out there. It's a good event for Arnold and you best not count him out. I never do."

For the first time in 20 years, the LPGA Tour does not have a full-field tournament in Hawai'i. Its season opens March 13 with the Welch's/Fry's Championship.

Sorenstam is intent on surpassing herself. Her 11 victories in 2002 were the most since Mickey Wright won 13 times in 1963. Wright won $61,000 then. Sorenstam cashed in $2.8 million last year, when she broke 20 more LPGA records and finished in the top three in all but six of her 23 starts.

This weekend will provide a sneak peek at both tours, with that strange Skins twist.

"It is completely different than tournament golf," Trevino says. "The score doesn't count and you go after everything, especially if two others have already made par.

"A 30-foot putt is the type that always seems to win the money."

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