Zoeller Skins Trio, Is $370,000 Richer

Striding across the 15th green on the PGA West Stadium course Sunday, having already won $195,000 in the 1986 Skins Game, Fuzzy Zoeller had his attention distracted by a man in the gallery.

“Fuzzy, having any fun yet?” the man asked.

“Beats the hell out of working,” responded the usually loose Zoeller.

Jack Nicklaus, standing nearby, shook his head and muttered, “That depends if you’re making any money or not.”

Nicklaus hadn’t and didn’t. He was the Golden Bare in this fourth renewal, coming up empty as Zoeller made a sweep of the $310,000 available Sunday for an 18-hole total--19 actually, since the final skin required an extra hole--of $370,000.

That’s believed to be one of the largest sums ever collected for a single round of competition and more than Zoeller has made in 11 of his 12 years on the tour. It is also $115,000 more than Zoeller made last year when he set a Skins Game record of $255,000 and it is $75,000 more than Nicklaus’ cumulative total for the three previous Skins Games.

Of his Sunday sweep, Zoeller said, “I don’t mind being a pig.”

Then he added, “I feel wonderful, let’s put it that way. I came back to try to defend my title, and to be this successful at it makes me feel very good.”

The defending champion receives an automatic invitation for the next year’s event. Zoeller winked, glanced in the direction of Lee Trevino, Arnold Palmer and Nicklaus, sitting next to him at a press conference, and said, “I’ll be happy to come back and send a limo for these three guys.”

Trevino, by winning a three hole carryover worth $55,000 on No. 7 Saturday, and Palmer, by winning a $25,000 skin on the ensuing hole, prevented a total sweep by Zoeller, who has won $625,000 in his 37 holes of Skins competition.

Some believe that the current lineup represents a mismatch. They cite the fact that the 35-year-old Zoeller is at the top of his game, a tour regular who won three tournaments and $358,115 in official prize money this year. They cite the fact that Nicklaus, at 46, Trevino, 47 today, and Palmer, 57, are each more of a conglomerate than a competitor now.

They also cite Zoeller’s carefree demeanor and apparent disdain for pressure.

“The golf course is my office,” he said Sunday. “The pressure and excitement keeps me coming back. I never really get tense. I try to leave that in the hotel room.

“I’m not afraid to choke, if that’s what you call it. In fact, I always want to be in position to choke.”

Zoeller meant that he always wants to be in position to win, the outcome in his grasp, a master of his own destiny. He was there when he had to be Sunday, but he also got help. He said it was more luck than dominance, pointing out that he bogied two of the first three holes, those being Nos. 10 and 12, picked up on the 16th and probably would have shot a 40 or more on his own ball.

“I was in the right place at the right time and I had a lot of luck going for me,” he said. “I didn’t hit the ball well at all.

“I was fortunate. I just skinned well.”

On a warm and flawless morning that attracted a crowd estimated at 10,000, Zoeller and company began the back nine shooting for a $50,000 skin, the result of a $25,000 carryover and a $25,000 value on holes 7 through 12.

The value went to $35,000 on No. 13, and that’s where Zoeller made his first score, collecting $135,000 in the wake of carryovers on Nos. 10, 11 (where Palmer and Zoeller missed birdie putts of 12 to 15 feet) and 12 (where Nicklaus missed from 5 feet).

Zoeller won 13 with a par, getting down in three on a treacherous hole where virtually all 237 yards are carry. Anything short or left is in the water. Anything right courts a difficult lie on the side of a hill.

Zoeller hit a 1-iron about 10 feet over the back of the green, chipped to within five feet and made the putt. Palmer found water off the tee. Trevino hit long, chipped to within three feet and missed the putt.

Nicklaus was 20 yards off the green to the right, chipped brilliantly to within three feet, then, putting last with a chance to force a carryover worth $170,000, missed. Zoeller seemed almost embarrassed as he accepted congratulations from telecaster Bob Goalby.

Nicklaus came back on 14 to roll in a 12-foot birdie putt, forcing a carryover after Trevino had made a 15-foot birdie putt from the edge of the green. Hole No. 15 was halved with pars and No. 16, a 5-par, with birdies, Palmer sinking a 5-foot putt only to have Trevino then set up a $140,000 carryover by making a 4-foot putt after a delicate chip from the front of the green.

Zoeller then won the $140,000 with a birdie on the par three, 167-yard 17th, which is known as Alcatraz because, like the former prison in San Francisco Bay, it is surrounded by water. Zoeller hit an 8-iron to within 20 feet. Then, putting first, he hit it “straight and firm.” The ball found the center of the cup, and Zoeller reached for the sky, imitating Michael Jordan.

Nicklaus, Trevino and Palmer were all inside Zoeller, but each missed their tying putts, Palmer from about 5 feet.

They halved the $35,000 18th with pars to force a sudden death carry over on No. 10, the prize remaining $35,000. Trevino hooked an iron into the water on his second shot and picked up. Palmer hooked an iron left of the green, chipped short twice and picked up. Zoeller won again with a par, two-putting from 40 feet. Nicklaus, as on 13, had a chance to tie, but lipped a par putt of no more than 12 inches.

Luck and timing. Zoeller had it, Nicklaus didn’t, though it was agreed that he played the best golf on both days. Nicklaus, in fact, estimated that he shot about a 70 on a course rated 77.1, the highest in the country.

“I made some putts for ties but I didn’t make any when they counted,” Nicklaus said. “That’s the name of this game.”

Asked about his putting inconsistency, he said: “In medal play, you kind of gather a rhythm through the course of the day. It’s tougher under these conditions where you’re liable to pick up on a hole here or there, often two or three in a row. But I’m not using that as an excuse. I had putts today I should have made.”

Despite the shutout, Nicklaus said he hoped to be back for his fifth Skins Game. He said it had grown from a television show into an event of national prominence that fans now look forward to and the players who participate thoroughly enjoy.

None more than Zoeller, of course.