Maybe it's just as well. A whimsical result would have been spoiled by the time TV aired the conclusion this morning anyway. The back nine was played yesterday at Wailea Gold Golf Course, and taped to be shown on a delay basis.

Tom Watson, the youngest player by 10 years, won with par on the third playoff hole. It was worth $260,000 and five skins, and gave Watson $400,000 and 10 skins for the two-day event.

After 20 holes of must-see golf TV, the 21st was more must-miss. Lee Trevino, the defending champion, three-putted on the last (17th) green to give Watson the game.

Trevino was shut out but not shut up. He talked more than Watson, Jack Nicklaus and Arnold Palmer combined and never complained about a hip that was clearly giving him problems. He hurt it when he fell into a bunker while practicing earlier in the week. Every day, he walked a little slower and his swing grew a little shorter. Still, he could have won on the first extra hole (No. 18) if Watson had not covered his birdie putt.

Palmer and Nicklaus, who had chances to win it all on the final three holes of regulation, were ousted from the playoff there when they parred.

Trevino gamely hung on with a gritty one-putt par on the next playoff hole (16), but admitted he'd "just had enough" by the time he and Watson climbed the 17th a second time.

"I was hurting real bad in the Pro-Am this morning," Trevino said. "I was hitting everything with my hands, couldn't control the ball, just slapping at it. ... I don't know when I'm going to play again. Something's wrong with the hip because I cannot swing at the ball and get on my left side. I just ran out of gas when I three-putted."

Watson's take-home pay was the third-highest total in the history of this event. Palmer, 74, could have claimed the $400,00 if he had made a 10-foot birdie putt on the 18th. It would have been the largest paycheck of his celebrated professional career, which turned 50 this year.

The King's royal ending died when the grain grabbed his ball.

"There was a little indecision in my mind and eventually that's what cost me making the putt," Palmer said. "I was a little undecided as to what the putt might do going down there. There's no excuse for what I did. I hit it too tentatively and when you do that on greens like these, the grain takes it."

He finished second with $140,000 and five skins — won with birdies on a trio of par-3s. Palmer had been shut out the previous two years.

"You'll probably play another 10 years now," Nicklaus told Palmer when they were done.

"I wanted to make that putt and then think about it," Palmer shot back.

Nicklaus was third, with $60,000 and three skins, all won Friday. He had birdie putts to win, from just inside 20 feet, on 16 and 17 yesterday, but missed both. The last came after Watson picked up a putt for par rather than show him the line.

"It always turns out to be putting in the end," Nicklaus said with a shrug.

But Watson deserved the victory as much as the next World Golf Hall of Famer. The 2003 Champions Tour Player of the Year made eight birdies and two eagles in 21 holes. Until the end, only the eagles had earned him any money, a testimony to the quality of play and tranquility of Wailea, despite a gallery of 4,000.

Watson was magnanimous in victory.

"Arnold was the star," he said. "He made the birdies on the three par-3s and made everybody dream of Arnie's charges again. I think we're all part of Arnie's Army out there. He can still do it. He showed he could.

"I feel like I was the outsider because I'm the young one and these three guys have played in the skins game now I don't know how many years," Watson added. "It's great to see them all playing so well. It's a great show place for them.

"Like I said before, there's no lack of will to win out there with any of the four of us. I had an advantage because of my youth and length. In the end I guess that prevailed. It was an honor for me to play with these guys."