GOLF BRIEFS
Legends anticipate good times at event
By Ann Miller
Advertiser Staff Writer
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WHO: Arnold Palmer, Jack Nicklaus, Lee Trevino and Tom Watson WHEN: 1:15 p.m. tomorrow and Saturday. Nine holes each day. WHERE: Wailea Gold Golf Course, Maui (6,821 yards, Par 72) PURSE: $600,000—$20,000 first 6 holes, $30,000 next 6, $40,000 next 5, $100,000 18th. Money carries over if no player wins hole outright PRO-AM: 10 a.m. tomorrow (back nine) and Saturday (front nine) ADMISSION: $20 daily. Children 12-under free with ticket-holding adult. Available at Wailea Golf Club pro shops, Queen Ka'ahumanu Shopping Center, Nevada Bob's Golf (Kihei), Ka'anapali Golf Club, Maui Golf Shop and the gate. PARKING: $3, opens at 7:30 a.m. each day TV COVERAGE (HST, times tentative): One-day delay on ABC, 1 p.m. to 3:30 p.m. Saturday (first nine), 7:30 a.m. to 10 a.m. Sunday (second nine) INFORMATION: (800) 332-1614 or SkinsGamesSeries.com |
Arnold Palmer, Jack Nicklaus, Tom Watson and defending champion Lee Trevino are all in the World Golf Hall of Fame. They are as familiar to some golf fans as family, with 42 major championships among them. Palmer is beginning his 50th year as a pro.
Back in the day, they thrived on beating one another. Tomorrow and Saturday at Wailea's Gold Course, their competitive nature still will be apparent, but the atmosphere will be much more congenial.
"We've been together a long time and become friends," Nicklaus said after finishing sixth at last week's MasterCard Championship. "It's not as important if we beat each others' brains out. We're enjoying being together."
One of golf's most famous foursomes tees off tomorrow morning in the Skins Pro-Am, joined by Hawai'i's David Ishii and television analyst Ian Baker-Finch. Punahou freshman Michelle Wie will play with the pros, as an amateur, Saturday.
The Skins Game will be played in the afternoon each day. It will be shown on TV on a one-day delay basis, with the final nine holes a warmup to the Super Bowl.
That placement is part of the reason senior skins is celebrating its 17th anniversary. This is its fourth year at Wailea. Mauna Lani hosted it the previous 11 years. It started at Turtle Bay in 1988, and went to La Quinta in California the following year.
Last year, Trevino won his first Champions Skins Game with a 10-foot birdie putt on the third playoff hole. He earned $240,000 and something more.
"It meant a lot to me," Trevino said, "because it was the only tournament that I won. It was great TV exposure."
Watson probably is the favorite. He was the Champions' Player of the Year in 2003 and, at 54, is 10 years younger than Nicklaus and Trevino and 20 younger than Palmer.
"I beat them all in lack of aches and pains," Watson quips.
This is Wie's first "tournament" appearance since she missed the cut at Sony Open in Hawai'i by a shot. Honolulu's Dave Eichelberger, who plays on the Champions Tour but qualified for Sony, compared the buzz Wie created to Palmer's early impact.
"I was out there for the junior clinic and it was quite something, Eichelberger said. "I haven't seen anything like it since back in the days when Arnie was winning everything in the late 60s, early 70s. There were people climbing trees and mamas and babies and everything and everybody running everywhere."
The players donate 10 percent of their winnings to charity. The $3 per vehicle parking charge at the grass lot off Wailea Ike Drive will benefit the Maui County Boy Scouts and Maui Junior Golf. Complimentary shuttle transportation to and from the event parking lot and the tournament site will be available.
College tourney at Waikoloa
The 14th annual Taylor Made/Waikoloa Intercollegiate tournament will be Feb. 10-13 at Waikoloa's Kings' Course. It features 21 teams in a 54-hole competition. Admission is free.
Ranked teams participating are UCLA, No. 4 in the Golfweek
/Sagarin Performance Index, Georgia Tech (5), Arizona State (8), Pepperdine (24), Washington (28), Tulsa (30), Southern California (36), Oklahoma (39) and Texas Tech (42).
The University of Hawai'i, UH-Hilo, Houston, Nevada, Stanford and Nagoya also are in the field.
ASU's Alejandro Canizares, who won last year's NCAA championship as a freshman, is ranked 42nd nationally. His father, Jose Maria, plays on the senior tour.
Georgia Tech has three Top-50 players in Nicholas Thompson (19), Roberto Castro (21) and Kevin Larsen (43).
Manoa senior Matt Kodama is ranked 35th. Kodama, a senior from Las Vegas, finished in the Top 10 at all five fall events.
Washington's Brock MacKenzie is the top-ranked player at Waikoloa, at No. 12.
The tournament opens Feb. 10, with a long-drive contest and the College-Am, at 12:30 p.m. The first round is the following day.
In the past, Tiger Woods, Jim Furyk, Justin Leonard, Hank Kuehne and Notah Begay played in the event.
HSJA enrollment forms available
Enrollment forms for the 2004 Hawai'i State Junior Golf Association season are available by calling the office on O'ahu (532-0559) or online (HSJGA.org). Enrollment fee for the year is $25.
Members receive a GHIN handicap card and access to HSJGA discounts. Along with tournaments, the organization sponsors rules and physical training clinics and college workshops.
The tournament schedule starts with the Junior World Hawai'i Qualifier, June 12 and 13. Boys and girls participate in four age divisions at all events — 15-18, 13-14, 11-12 and 10-under.
