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Tom Watson says Tiger Woods needs to “show some humility to the public” when he returns to golf after sorting out his personal life.

Watson also said Wednesday that Woods should clean up his on-course behavior in order to be considered among the true greats of the game.

TOM WATSON. Picture © Getty Images

Woods is on an indefinite break since his car crash Nov. 27 that fueled sordid tales of extramarital affairs.

“I’ll let the cat out of the bag,” Watson said ahead of the Dubai Desert Classic. “Tiger has to take ownership of what he has done. He must get his personal life in order. I think that’s what he’s trying to do. And when he comes back, he has to show some humility to the public.

“I would come out and I would do an interview with somebody and say, ‘You know what? I screwed up. And I admit it. I am going to try to change. I am trying to change. I want my wife and family back.”’

The 60-year-old Watson, one of golf’s elder statesmen, also criticized Woods — a 14-time major winner—for bad language and other on-course behavior.

“I feel that he has not carried the same stature that other great players that have come along like Jack (Nicklaus), Arnold (Palmer), Byron Nelson, the Hogans, in the sense that there was language and club throwing on the golf course,” Watson said. “You can grant that of a young person that has not been out here for a while. But I think he needs to clean up his act and show the respect for the game that other people before him have shown.”

Despite beginning his year with victories in Hawaii in the Champions Skins and the senior’s Mitsubishi Electric Championship, Watson played down his chances of winning the Desert Classic on the European Tour.

After playing in the pro-am, Watson said he was impressed with the condition of the Emirates course but had trouble keeping his drives on the narrow fairways.

“The rough is very tough,” he said. “It is very tough to get the ball on the green from the rough. You have probably only got a one-in-seven or one-in-eight chance to get the green if you drive into the rough.”

The field also includes England’s Lee Westwood and Sweden’s Henrik Stenson, who will be among the favorites for Sunday’s $416,600 prize.

Phil Mickelson won’t be using the Ping Eye2 wedge that led a fellow player to accuse him of “cheating,” even though he hopes others will use the controversial club to keep attention on what he calls a ridiculous rule.

PING EYE 2 WEDGE. Picture © Getty Images

“I won’t be playing that wedge. My point has been made,” Mickelson said on Wednesday on the eve of his two-time title defense at Riviera. “But if these governing bodies cannot get together to fix this loophole, if players stop using this wedge—which would stop the pressure of the issue—then I will relook at it and put the wedge back in play.”

The Ping wedge has grooves that no longer conform under a new U.S. Golf Association regulation, adopted by the U.S. PGA Tour. However, any Ping wedge made before April 1, 1990, is approved for play under a legal settlement from two decades ago.

Mickelson is among five players who have used the Ping wedge in competition this year.

Several players believe using the club goes against the spirit of the new grooves regulation, although Scott McCarron fueled the debate when he said of Mickelson and others, “It’s cheating.”

Mickelson hinted at legal action after saying he was “publicly slandered.” He said McCarron offered him a sincere apology late Tuesday, which he accepted.

“We all make mistakes, and we all say things we wish we could take back,” Mickelson said. “I’ve done it a bunch in my career. And the fact that it’s also not easy to come up and face that person, look them in the eye and apologize … I appreciate him being a big enough man to do that.”

Instead, Mickelson vented his anger at the USGA and its lack of transparency in developing the new rules for grooves. He has complained that he’s submitted wedges that fit the guidelines, only for the USGA to reject the club for violating the intent of the new rule.

“I’m very upset with the way the rule came about, the way one man essentially can approve or not approve a golf club based on his own personal decision, regardless of what the rule says,” Mickelson said. “This has got to change.”

The next step remains murky.

Tour commissioner Tim Finchem met with players on Tuesday and conceded that tour officials did not realize a Ping wedge from 20 years ago would become such a big issue.

Finchem said the Ping Eye2 wedge produces spin at about 60 percent of the rate from last year’s wedges, but about 10 percent more than wedges approved for competition this year.

“The assumption was made last year that very few, if any, players would use that club because they’re 20 years old,” Finchem said. “I think we underestimated that a little bit.”

He said the tour could either do nothing and monitor how many players used wedges, an option that seemed unlikely because Finchem said it still raised issues over fairness in competition. Some players are going to eBay to find the clubs, as Ping stopped making them and now only can confirm through serial numbers when the wedges were made.

The other option is to work out an agreement with Ping chairman and CEO John Solheim. He said Solheim was to meet with the USGA over the next few weeks, and “I can only hope progress is made in that regard.”

Ping plays the biggest role in any solution because of its lawsuits against the USGA and U.S. PGA Tour over square grooves.

Finchem said the third option involved a complicated process in which the tour’s independent committee on equipment tries to establish a local rule. He called that a “cumbersome process.”

Any solution could be weeks, if not months, away.

In the meantime, Mickelson said he would not use the wedge at the Northern Trust Open, even though he’s hopeful others will.

“If there’s no pressure among these organizations to make changes, I will immediately put the club back in play,” Mickelson said.

U.S. captain Corey Pavin appointed Tom Lehman, Davis Love III, Jeff Sluman and Paul Goydos on Wednesday as his assistants for this year’s Ryder Cup against Europe.

COREY PAVIN. Picture © Getty Images

Lehman, the 2006 skipper at the K Club and British Open champion in 1996, played on three Ryder Cup teams with an overall win-loss-half record of 5-3-2.

Love, winner of the 1997 PGA Championship, has appeared in the biennial match on six occasions, compiling a 9-12-5 record.

Sluman, the 1988 PGA champion, and PGA Tour journeyman Goydos have never competed in a Ryder Cup but they are both veterans on the U.S. circuit who are highly respected by their peers.

“I have hand-picked my four assistants because of their intelligence, experience and their ability to express their own opinions to me without hesitation,” Pavin told a news conference at Riviera Country Club.

“Each of my assistants have unique perspectives to bring to the table which I believe will bring a great balance of leadership to Team USA.

“Tom and Davis have been long-time friends of mine,” added Pavin, who was an assistant to Lehman at the 2006 Ryder Cup.

“Tom and I joined for his first Ryder Cup match and Davis and I were on the U.S. team in 1993 that brought home the Cup from The Belfry—the last time the USA won on foreign soil.

“Jeff is a major champion, a seasoned veteran who has been a success on both the regular and the Champions Tour. Paul is well-liked, a fine player and a good judge of talent and well respected over the 18 years he has been on Tour.

“I will lean on them for advice, and I am delighted that they have accepted to be a part of our team this year.”

The 2010 Ryder Cup will take place at Celtic Manor resort in Wales from Oct. 1-3 when the U.S. will defend the trophy they won by 16-1/2 points to 11-1/2 at Valhalla Golf Club in 2008.

World number two Phil Mickelson will aim to become the first player to win the Northern Trust Open three years in a row when he tees off in Thursday’s opening round at Riviera Country Club.

PHIL MICKELSON. Picture © Getty Images

The American left-hander has always enjoyed playing on the classic par-71 layout but he will need to bury memories of his faltering finish at last week’s San Diego Open where he made his first competitive appearance of the year.

Mickelson had been in a good position to challenge for the title at Torrey Pines after starting Sunday’s final round just four strokes off the pace but his bid stalled with three bogeys in the first three holes.

“I had a good warm-up session and I felt like it was going to be a good day,” Mickelson told reporters after closing with a one-over-par 73. “I got off to a terrible start and then throughout the round didn’t get much out of it.

“But the good thing is that I’ve got a direction of what I’m working on. I hit some good shots coming down the stretch … and my game is feeling not as rusty as it looks. I’ve had some success at LA so I’m excited (about this week).

“The golf course is one of the best we have on Tour,” Mickelson said of Riviera. “It is such a visually stimulating course and a very challenging shot-making course.”

The three-times major winner faces a typically strong field in the fifth event of the 2010 PGA Tour where four of the world’s top 10 are set to compete.

Apart from Mickelson, third-ranked Steve Stricker, fellow American Jim Furyk (fifth) and Irishman Padraig Harrington (eighth) are taking part.

Stricker finished second to Mickelson by one shot at Riviera last year and, like his compatriot, he has always enjoyed the Los Angeles event.

“It’s always nice to come back here,” he told reporters on Tuesday. “It’s a place where I had some success last year and I’m looking forward to getting it going again this year.

“I haven’t played the last couple of weeks and being home in Madison (Wisconsin), you don’t get a lot done there this time of year.

“Hopefully I can continue my play like I did the first couple of weeks of the season,” he added, referring to his top-10 finishes in his first two PGA Tour starts.

Other leading players in this week’s field include world number 15 Robert Allenby of Australia, British Open champion Stewart Cink of the United States and three-time major winner Ernie Els of South Africa.

Also competing are Canadian left-hander Mike Weir, champion here in 2003 and 2004, South Africa’s Rory Sabbatini, a winner in 2006, and Japanese teenage sensation Ryo Ishikawa.

Scott McCarron has apologized to Phil Mickelson for using the word “cheating” when he disagreed with Mickelson and others who use the Ping Eye2 wedges that are only allowed because of a legal loophole.

PGA Tour commissioner Tim Finchem met with players at the Northern Trust Open late Tuesday afternoon in Los Angeles and, according to one player, said the tour was working with Ping to figure out a solution.

SCOTT MCCARRON. Picture © Getty Images

The player spoke on condition of anonymity because Finchem asked that he be the first to speak publicly to the media Wednesday morning.

The tour likely would not be able to invoke a local rule banning the wedge at Riviera this week.

McCarron caused a furor last week at Torrey Pines when he told The San Francisco Chronicle about Mickelson using Ping wedges with square grooves, “It’s cheating, and I’m appalled Phil has put it in play.”

Mickelson said he had been “publicly slandered” and hinted at legal action.

McCarron told The Golf Channel as other reporters looked on Tuesday evening: “I’m certainly sorry for it. I’d like to apologize to Phil Mickelson for what I said. We both realize we’re on the same page on this issue.”

Whether that was enough to satisfy Mickelson remained to be seen.

McCarron also apologized in the meeting, according to the player.

The United States Golf Association changed its rules to outlaw square grooves with a certain depth and volume, now requiring grooves that are more shallow with rounded edges, which some refer to as V-shaped grooves. The idea is to reduce spin and make hitting into the fairway more important.

However, the Ping Eye2 wedges made before April 1, 1990, are approved for play, even though the grooves don’t conform. That’s because Ping’s legal settlement with the USGA (in 1990) and PGA Tour (in 1993) take precedence over any rule changes.

The player at the meeting said Finchem apologized to players for the PGA Tour not realizing some competitors—Mickelson, John Daly and Hunter Mahan, among others—would use clubs that were at least 20 years old.

Among the considerations were to find a solution with Ping and John Solheim, the chairman and CEO of the equipment company; or to look into the possibility of creating its own set of rules, the player said.

Solheim had said in a statement Monday that the tour could not establish a local rule that was different from the USGA. Solheim also said he was willing to discuss a “workable solution.”

Earlier Tuesday, three-time major champion Padraig Harrington of Ireland said he was contemplating using the Ping wedges at Riviera.

“I’m kind of waiting to see what the tour’s direction is,” Harrington said. “What I’m doing is I’m preparing myself for all eventualities. It would be naive not to. I did some good testing yesterday. Unfortunately, the testing showed up exactly what you would expect, and there’s a significant difference. I think that significant difference depends on the players.”

Steve Stricker said he was surprised how divisive the Ping wedges have become.

“The rule isn’t very good,” he said. “We have conforming grooves, but yet we can play a set of grooves that were legal back in 1990. I think the rule just needs to be altered. Hopefully, we get it straightened out and we all get on an even playing surface.”

Tuesday, 26 January 2010

Bill Haas made a short birdie putt on the 18th hole to earn his first PGA Tour victory at the Bob Hope Classic on Monday, beating Matt Kuchar, Tim Clark and Bubba Watson by one stroke with an 8-under 64.

Haas was the last of three co-leaders to play the 18th, and an outstanding approach shot allowed him to two-putt his way to a 30-under 330 finish.

Kuchar and South Africa’s Clark both had birdie chances on the par-5 18th at the Arnold Palmer Private course, but both missed their putts. Fourth-round co-leader Watson birdied the 18th to grab a share of second place.

After grinding through five rounds on four courses over six days in the rain-delayed tournament, Haas couldn’t celebrate until his final shot. He’s the 27-year-old son of Jay Haas, the 1988 Hope Classic champion.

After father and son practiced together in nearby Indian Wells last weekend when Bill Haas missed the cut at the Sony Open, Jay Haas traveled back from his own Champions Tour event in Hawaii just in time to watch his son finish the final round with back-to-back birdies.

They’re the eighth father-son combination to win on the PGA Tour, but Bill Haas spent most of the day trailing Kuchar, who came from three shots back and rocketed up the tight leaderboard. He had eight birdies in his first 11 holes, but just one in the last seven.

After rain wiped out Thursday’s play and threatened throughout Friday in the PGA Tour’s only five-round, four-course event, the Hope Classic was extended to Monday. The tour’s next event is close by at Torrey Pines, making travel easy— but the top Hope finishers may want to take an extra day to catch their breath after a nail-biting finish.

Rookie Alex Prugh, who shared the lead with Watson entering the final round, started slowly but closed with three straight birdies to finish fifth at 28 under in his third career PGA Tour event. Veteran Mike Weir was sixth at 26 under.

Kuchar’s fast start also didn’t shake Clark, who has never won on the PGA Tour. He has a runner-up finish for the sixth straight year, including his 2006 finish at the Masters.

The small crowd far down the eighth fairway could see John Daly, just not where his golf ball was headed.

Daly is hard to miss these days, even from more than 300 yards away—not because he has lost 45 kilograms (100 pounds), rather the colorful prints he wears, some that look like a gum ball machine.

On this day at the Sony Open, the gallery was curious to see whether players would go at the green more than 450 yards away with a stiff wind at their backs. Daly’s tee shot sailed over the trees and just through the fairway. Next was Bubba Watson, even longer off the tee, and his drive stopped in the short grass about 70 yards short of the green.
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So much for that notion of playing it safe this year.

While one hole—especially those two players—is not the best sampling of strategy on the PGA Tour, two weeks into the new year did little to support the theory that players will give up distance for accuracy because of V-shaped grooves now required in irons.

What followed was worth noting.

Daly is using 20-year-old Ping wedges that still have square grooves (legal through a loophole), and he couldn’t figure out how to play toward the pin. He chose a low trajectory and wound up 40 feet short. Watson played a higher trajectory and still came up 25 feet short.

Clearly, there will be some adjustments to make this year.

In an effort to put a greater premium on accuracy, golf’s governing bodies served up the most significant rollback in technology by banning box-shaped grooves that generate greater spin.

Will that make golf harder?

Not necessarily.

Geoff Ogilvy defended his title at Kapalua with a 22-under 280, two strokes higher than last year, and that can be attributed to the strong Kona wind that makes the course slightly tougher.

Ryan Palmer won the Sony Open on Sunday at 15-under 265, the same winning score Zach Johnson had last year.

Whether scores will suffer will not be noticeable until more tournaments are played on different grasses in a variety of conditions. The new grooves at least appear to make the game different.

The best example came at the decisive par-5 18th hole in the final round at Waialae, when Palmer and Robert Allenby were tied for the lead, both in the rough right of the fairway.

Palmer had 226 yards to the hole for his second shot, thought about a 6-iron, then changed to a 5 because the ball was sitting up in the grass and he didn’t think it would jump off the club. He guessed wrong, and the ball came up 50 feet short.

“It obviously didn’t jump out like I thought it would,” Palmer said. “It caught a little bit high on the club face.”

Next up was Allenby, who was in about the same spot the day before when he hit a 4-iron. This time, he opted for a 5 from 218 yards and it came out hot, running through the back of the green and against a TV tower. With a nasty lie, he opted to pop up a wedge and did well to leave himself a 10-foot putt up the hill, which he missed and lost by one shot.

“I had the same yardage as yesterday, and I hit one club less and it went further,” Allenby said. “And that’s the beauty of the grooves today. It has changed the game of golf, which I think is for the better. I think it’s great, because now we have to all of a sudden manufacture our way around the golf course.

“Before, it would have come out soft, and we know that,” he said. “Today, you don’t know where it’s going to go.”

It has hurt some players.

Pat Perez was amazed at some of the fliers he got out of the rough, hitting one 7-iron from 210 yards that was “all grooves.” He prepared for those shots. What stumped him was chipping around the green with new grooves in his wedges.

“I can’t chip,” he said, which was evident on the 13th hole Saturday when he came up 6 feet short on a standard chip and took bogey. “I’ve tried them all — a bump, a flop. I haven’t figured it out yet.”

Steve Stricker believes it already has cost him a few shots, including one at Kapalua on the ninth hole when he was expecting the ball to check up after one bounce, and instead it released.

On the 10th hole Thursday at Waialae, what was supposed to be a low trajectory with a sand wedge climbed into the blue sky.

“It climbed right up the face, went up and went down,” said Stricker, who still managed to make birdie because he can still putt. “I’ve tried different techniques. It’s not the normal trajectory I’m used to seeing. I look down on the club face and I’ve got a grass stain in the middle. It really is a guessing game now.”

New grooves aren’t necessarily bad.

Vijay Singh had a shot from the left rough on the 16th hole in which he ordinarily might have been blocked by a tree. With more shallow grooves, he was able to get the ball higher and over the tree with a wedge.

That’s the kind of situation to which Ogilvy was referring at Kapalua when he said, “We lost a bit, but we gained somewhere else.”

The next lab test comes this week at the Bob Hope Classic, which typically doesn’t feature much rough. Then it’s onto Torrey Pines, Riviera and Pebble Beach, with grass that is longer, thinner and typically more damp.

More learning awaits.

“The skill is to try to land it where you need to,” Allenby said. “But there is a lot more luck involved now.”

Sergio Garcia thinks it won’t be long before Tiger Woods returns to tournament play.

Woods is taking an indefinite break from golf since his Nov. 27 car accident in Florida and subsequent revelations of extra marital affairs.

Woods has not been seen in public since the crash, and there has been no word on a date for his return.

“The best thing for Tiger at the moment is to get on the course and do what he knows best,” said Garcia, who had a personal rivalry on the PGA Tour with Woods over the past 10 years. “Only he knows when he is going to come back. I have got the feeling that it’s going to be earlier that what everybody thinks.”

The Spaniard spoke Tuesday before the Abu Dhabi Championship, where he will return to action Thursday after a seven-week layoff for treatment of a tendon problem in his right wrist.

“I think he (Woods) is very strong mentally and it’s not like the break he had for injury a couple of years back when he had the knee problem,” Garcia said. “If you can’t walk you can’t swing. It’s different.”

While Woods’ continued absence might make it easier for Garcia to end his elusive 11-year search for a victory in one of golf’s four majors, he would prefer to achieve that feat playing against the world’s best player.

“There’s nothing better than playing against the best,” Garcia said. “But there is always an upside and a downside. The downside when he is playing is that you know your chances of winning are a little lower.

“The upside is that when you know you are playing against him and you manage to beat him, it’s always that much sweeter to have beaten the best. So for the game, it is not good that Tiger is out. We hope he gets back as soon as possible.”

The PGA Tour added a final component to its schedule of events for the 2010 season by announcing a new tournament on Tuesday.

The $4 million McGladrey Classic will be held from Oct. 7-10 as part of the Tour’s Fall Series and will be played on the Seaside Course at the Sea Island Resort, Georgia.

RSM McGladrey, an accounting, tax and business consulting firm, has agreed to be the title sponsor in a three-year deal, Tour commissioner Tim Finchem said.

Veteran Tour player and Sea Island resident Davis Love III, whose foundation will be the host organisation, will act as tournament chairman.

Fellow American and 2007 Masters champion Zach Johnson, who is also a Sea Island resident, will add further player power to the mix by serving on the tournament board.

“We’ve been working on this concept for about a year-and-a-half,” Finchem said in a teleconference call.

“This represents a partnership between a dynamic new sponsor, a host organisation founded by a prominent member of the PGA Tour and a world-class resort serving as the host venue.

“This unique collection of partners, combined with the direct involvement of Davis and Zach, brings distinction to the tournament that is unlike any other we have on Tour.”

Tuesday’s announcement followed Monday’s news that a title sponsor had finally been found for the San Diego Open, Buick having pulled out last year because of the economic downturn.

The Farmers Insurance Group, a management and holding company, will back next week’s event at Torrey Pines and has an option to extend its sponsorship beyond 2010.

“Yesterday’s announcement as it relates to San Diego and today’s announcement for the Fall Series really caps off our announcements for this year,” Finchem said. “We are done.

“We have a full schedule … the total playing opportunities for our players are consistent with the last couple years. Our prize money this year will be up slightly over 2009.”

Finchem played down the likely economic impact on the Tour due to the absence of world number one Tiger Woods, who is taking an indefinite break from the game.

The 14-times major champion, who has given no timetable for his return to competition, has been in hiding since admitting last month he had cheated on his wife.

“People think because Tiger spikes ratings, which he does, and spikes interest, which he certainly does, that if he’s not playing, it just doesn’t work,” he said.

“For the last 13 years, we’ve averaged about 47 tournaments a year on the PGA Tour and in those years Tiger has averaged playing about 17.

“We just had Tiger out for eight months in ’08 and we had our all-time record charity year at $125 million,” Finchem added, referring to the absence of Woods while he was recovering from reconstructive knee surgery.

“Everybody just needs to keep it in balance. We want our No. 1 player back and I think he’s going to be huge when he comes back.

“But he’s doing the right thing right now in dealing with his issues. In the meantime, we’re moving forward, and we’re going to have a great year.”

Charl Schwartzel won his second consecutive European Tour event with a six-stroke victory in the Joburg Open on Sunday.

CHARL SCHWARTZEL. Picture © Getty Images

The South African was never threatened on the final day of the tournament at Royal Johannesburg and Kensington Golf Club.

He shot a final-round 66 on the East Course to finish the event on 23-under-par 261, six clear of second-placed fellow South African Keith Horne and Briton Darren Clarke.

Schwartzel dropped only three shots all week: a bogey at the third on Sunday and a double-bogey at the West Course’s 12th on Thursday.

The win cements his place at the top of the Race to Dubai standings after four events on the 2010 European Tour.

Schwartzel, who won last week’s Africa Open, started the day with a four-stroke lead over Northern Irishman Clarke and made the turn four clear with his score at 19 under par.

The 25-year-old delivered a knockout blow at the tenth hole, where he sank a birdie putt to reach 20 under par and move five ahead. A birdie at the par-four 14th put him six clear.

Clarke did well to stay on level par early on Sunday after some wayward hitting. He briefly got within two of Schwartzel when he birdied the fourth but some bad putts from close range robbed him of any momentum.

A chip-in for eagle at the par-five 18th, however, ensured Clarke ended in a share of second place.

Horne’s seven-under-par 64, which included birdies at the final two holes, put him into joint second after he had started the day at 10 under.

South African James Kamte and England’s Danny Willett finished tied for fourth at 14 under par.

Sunday was the first day of the tournament, which is co-sanctioned by the European Tour and South Africa’s Sunshine Tour, not to be interrupted by thunderstorms.

Jack Nicklaus and Tom Watson held off defending champions Fuzzy Zoeller and Ben Crenshaw to win the Champions Skins Game on Sunday.

“Who played? I don’t remember,” said Nicklaus, who will be 70 on Thursday. “That’s part of being old, isn’t it? You don’t have to remember what happened 5 minutes ago.”

He won’t forget this one.

Nicklaus and the 60-year-old Watson birdied two holes to win three skins and $130,000 on the back nine. The Hall of Fame duo and the oldest team in the tournament finished with 10 skins and $350,000 for their second victory in the event in four years.

It was an early birthday present for Nicklaus and a little redemption for the team after being blanked last year. The victory means Nicklaus will be back next year.

“If Tom will put up with me, we’ll be back,” said Nicklaus, wearing a golden orchid lei.

On a balmy day, Zoeller-Crenshaw took five straight skins for $230,000 to finish second in the alternate-shot, made-for-TV event. They were trying to become the first team to repeat after winning a record $530,000 last year.

Fred Couples, making his Champions Tour debut, and Nick Price sank a 4-footer for birdie on the playoff hole with two skins and $150,000 on the line — including the 18th-hole, $100,000 “Superskin”—to finish third with $190,000.

Gary Player and Loren Roberts were shutout.

Couples, who turned 50 in October, was the biggest hitter by far. But he struggled finding his range and with his short game. He also missed a 7-foot putt on the big-money 18 that sent it to a playoff.

For the “King of Skins,” Couples felt more like a prince among kings.

“For me personally, I’m going to see Fuzzy, Crenshaw, Watson and Loren Roberts for a long, long time,” Couples said. “But I don’t know that I’ll ever, ever be in the same group with Jack Nicklaus or Gary Player.”

After taking seven skins and $220,000 the first day, team Nicklaus-Watson looked to put it away early by taking the par-5 10th worth $80,000 and two skins. After a high-arching wedge shot by Watson, Nicklaus made the 8-foot birdie putt to push his team’s take to $300,000 and nine skins on the first 10 holes.

“We’re about to get skinned by the two older guys,” Zoeller commented.

“I guess we felt sorry for those guys after that,” Nicklaus said.

That’s when the defending champs made a move, winning the next five skins.

Zoeller, who kept his partner and the crowd entertained all day with one-liners, sparked the rally on par-3 11th by draining a 25-foot putt to halve the hole after Watson made a 40-footer that drew a roar from the gallery of several thousand.

Zoeller sank 3-foot birdie putts on Nos. 12 and 15 before Watson ended the run by crawling in a 25-foot putt for birdie on the par-4 16th for a $50,000 skin.

The players were loose, signed hundreds of autographs and even walked behind the ropes with the fans on several holes. The fans were so enamored with the players, they didn’t even notice the humpback whales a few hundred yards away in the Pacific.

Nicklaus made his 20th appearance in the Champions Skins Game, which will be televised next month, and added to his record for skins (114) and money ($2.6 million).

“Nothing shocks us. We’ve seen it. I’ve seen it for 34 years, it doesn’t shock us when he makes it,” Zoeller said.

Watson and Nicklaus spent Saturday afternoon studying and playing the back nine, which they said gave them an advantage over the others, including newcomers Couples and Price.

“They were the team to beat with their length, but they’re inexperienced,” Watson said. “With Kaanapali, you need experience.”

Watson said the home-field advantage was similar to what he had at Turnburry last year where he lost in a four-hole playoff to Stewart Cink.

“I had local knowledge. I knew where to hit it, where not to hit it, how the course was going to play in the wind,” Watson said. “The rest of the kids, yeah, they had the length, but there’s situations that came up when they said, ‘What club do I hit?’ I kind of knew. Same thing here.”

Watson didn’t win the British last year, but between Nicklaus and Watson, they still own 112 PGA Tour titles and 26 majors.

For Nicklaus, the Skins Game was his only event of the year. So he’s beginning and finishing 2010 as a winner.

“It’s always fun to win. Good gracious, I play one tournament a year,” he said. “That’s a 100 percent a year. That’s pretty good isn’t it?”

The surname alone gets Ryan Palmer some attention when he tells people he plays golf for a living. There are times when Palmer will play along and not bother to correct anyone who wonders if he is related to one of the biggest names in golf.

RYAN PALMER. Picture © Getty Images

For a brief moment Sunday in the Sony Open, he showed flashes of Arnold Palmer.

First came the hard-charging chip, even if Palmer never meant to hit it that hard, which dramatically banged into the middle of the pin on the 18th green and settled inches away for a tap-in birdie. Then came the raw emotion, a smile he couldn’t contain as he fell backward to the ground in a mixture of shock and relief.

Moments later, when Robert Allenby failed to make a birdie putt from just inside 10 feet, Palmer had a one-shot victory and his immediate future looked as bright as the sun that shone down on the Waikiki shores all week.

“Lucky bounce,” said Palmer, who closed with a 4-under 66. “You need things like that to win.”

It wasn’t entirely luck.

Palmer and Allenby were tied over the final three holes at Waialae, and when Steve Stricker failed to make birdie from a bunker on the par-5 18th a few groups ahead of them, the Sony Open came down to who could birdie the final hole.

Both were in the right rough, not unusual on a dogleg left with the ocean breeze at their back. Palmer was counting on his ball to jump out of a good lie, yet his 5-iron came out soft and stopped 50 feet short in the fairway. Allenby had the same yardage as Saturday when he hit a 4-iron, this time he hit a 5-iron and it went even farther, over the green. From there, he played a lofted pitch to just inside 10 feet.

When he hit his chip, Palmer expected the worst.

“I knew it was going to land too far,” Palmer said. “And I though, ‘Oh, gosh.’ When I first hit, I could tell I just caught it thin enough where it was going to release a lot more. It bounced on the line and it went my way.”

It was a bitter loss for Allenby, although he could still see the big picture. He wasn’t even sure he could play this week after spraining his right ankle on Monday when he stepped awkwardly off a curb.

No one came to Honolulu in better form. Allenby was trying to win his third consecutive tournament on his third different tour, a feat that was believed to have never been done. He stuck it out to the end, and had few regrets except for a 10-foot putt that turned away.

“It’s so easy to look back and say, ‘I could have made that, I could have made that.’ At the end of the day,” Allenby said, “realistically I needed to make a birdie at the last.”

Allenby had to settle for par and a 67, and it could be a while before he gets another shot at history like that.

Palmer, who finished at 15-under 265 and earned $990,000, remained dazed at what he had achieved in the hour after hoisting the trophy and having a lei draped around his neck.

He last won in the Fall Series at the end of the 2008 season, which brought the 33-year-old Texan a two-year exemption. After dealing with a minor shoulder surgery in the offseason, he lost focus and finished 150th on the money list. This was his final year of eligibility on the PGA Tour, and he was determined to the season started right.

Winning the Sony Open was beyond his expectations.

The victory makes him exempt on the PGA Tour through the 2012 season. He’s going to the Masters for the first time in five years. He now is exempt for The Players Championship and the PGA Championship, and at least one World Golf Championship.

“What a way to start a year,” Palmer said. “Now I’ve got some tournaments to get ready for and get excited about. The pressure is off now. Just go out and enjoy the year.”

Despite the chip that hit the pin, a week in which his worst round was a 68, it all started for Palmer when he was looking for something to read and found a newspaper article about defending champion Zach Johnson, who spoke about his strategy of taking one day at a time. It made sense to Palmer, so he gave it a try.

“Play for the day,” he kept telling himself, a reminder not to think ahead.

Palmer was atop the leaderboard all four days, yet he showed up at Waialae acting as though he was starting from scratch.

“I played each day for that day,” he said. “I played Thursday for Thursday only. I wanted to win today.”

It was the third career victory for Palmer, and by far the biggest. He won at Disney in 2004 with a 62 in the final round. He recovered from a disastrous stretch at the defunct Ginn sur Merr Classic in Florida with birdies down the stretch.

This was the most meaningful victory of all.

“What I got out of this is beyond words,” Palmer said. “It was a great field, some of the top players here. I never once got upset, impatient. What I did today is probably one of the best rounds of golf I’ve ever experienced.”

It wasn’t just Allenby he was playing against.

Stricker, who could challenge Phil Mickelson for No. 2 in the world during the West Coast swing, made birdies around the turn and was tied for the lead briefly on the back nine. His hopes ended with a par on the 18th hole. Two-time U.S. Open champion Retief Goosen started seven shots behind and finished atop the leaderboard with a tournament-best 62, although it didn’t last. He finished fourth.

Allenby had few complaints except for having to settle for par on the last hole.

“Ryan played great,” he said. “He hit a lot of good shots and hit a lot of good putts.”

Nothing was familiar about Geoff Ogilvy’s return to Kapalua except the winner’s lei draped around his neck.

GEOFF OGILVY. Picture © Getty Images

Ogilvy was playing a new brand of equipment, with conforming new grooves in his wedges. Instead of a family vacation on Maui, his wife stayed home in the final month of her pregnancy. The superstitious stubble from last year gave way to a clean shave. The biggest change of all was the scorecoard—instead of a comfortable lead, Ogilvy had to rally.

That’s what made his victory Sunday in the SBS Championship so gratifying.

A year after winning by six shots, Ogilvy made up a two-shot deficit over his final 10 holes with smart decisions and flawless golf for a 6-under 67 and a one-shot victory over Rory Sabbatini, making him only the second repeat winner at Kapalua.

Even though he was stunned to see Sabbatini run off five straight birdies and close with a 63, Ogilvy knew what he had to do. He wasn’t playing the course, or even a player. He was playing against a number.

“If you beat Sabbo’s score, you’re going to win the tournament,” Ogilvy said. “It’s hard to make birdies when you have to make birdies. I’ve had that situation with a couple of holes to play, but never with nine holes to play. I’m pretty proud of the fact I did it.”

Ogilvy posted his eighth consecutive round in the 60s at Kapalua and joined Stuart Appleby, a fellow Australian, as the only players to win in consecutive years since the winners-only season opener moved to Kapalua in 1999. Appleby won three straight years. Only five other players have won back-to-back in the 58 years of this event.

“I like the golf course, I think it’s fair to say,” Ogilvy said.

Even though he trailed in the middle of his round, Ogilvy still had plenty of holes in front of him.

He played short of the par-4 14th, a 272-yard hole where most players were hitting driver, and pitched to 4 feet for birdie. And he took the outright lead with a 5-wood into 25 feet for a two-putt birdie on the 15th.

With so much talk about the V-shaped grooves required this year, Ogilvy said that helped him on the 14th, where it’s easy to spin the ball off the front of the green and back into the fairway.

“I was happy with the smart play, and it paid off,” he said.

Sabbatini, who started the final round six shots behind, ran off five straight birdies on the back nine to seize the lead. He couldn’t reach the green on the 663-yard 18th in two, however, and missed a 10-foot birdie putt that ultimately cost him.

“I said to my caddie, ‘We need to birdie the last two holes to have a chance,”’ Sabbatini said. “The situation was you had to keep moving forward to put pressure on him. I had my opportunity, and unfortunately, it didn’t pan out.”

Ogilvy finished at 22-under 270 and moved back into the top 10 in the world with his seventh career PGA Tour victory.

It was his first win since the Match Play Championship last February. The trick now is for Ogilvy to keep this form throughout the year, and he hopes he can learn from mistakes a year ago when he tried too hard and practiced more than usual.

He is taking next week off before playing in Abu Dhabi, then returns home to Arizona for the birth of his third child.

U.S. Open champion Lucas Glover’s bid to become the second straight wire-to-wire winner at Kapalua ended early when he hit into the hazard on consecutive holes and lost three shots. He closed with a 76 and was 14th in the 28-man field.

Matt Kuchar lingered without seriously threatening, missing several chances on the middle of the back nine as Ogilvy pulled farther ahead. He closed with a 67 and finished alone in third.

Sean O’Hair made all the right moves to give himself a chance. He was at 20 under, two shots out of the lead with a chance to reach the par-5 18th in two. He was quick with his swing and pulled it into the weeds, leading to double bogey and a 68 to finish fourth.

The Kona wind returned again, which makes Kapalua a tough start and finish, with birdies available in between and trouble on any hole with a poor shot. Sabbatini breezed through with a 32 on the front to get in the mix,

“I was just battling the putter the first three days,” Sabbatini said. “I came out today not knowing what to expect, and the flat stick showed up early.”

Even so, he got some help from the leaders. Ogilvy was in the lead until he pushed his tee shot badly to the right and into the knee-high native grass for a one-shot penalty. Glover followed him into the hazard, and both made bogey. From the middle of the next fairway, Glover came out of his shot and shoved it into the high grass again, leading to double bogey. While he bounced back with two birdies, a three-putt on the 10th ended his chances.

Sabbatini, a bundle of South African energy who always looks to be in a hurry, wasted no time seizing the lead.

He attacked a dangerous pin on the par-3 11th with an 8-iron for the first of five consecutive birdies, finishing the streak by driving to the back of the green on the 282-yard 14th and hitting his approach to the par-5 15th to 15 feet for another easy birdie. Most impressive was a 5-iron into 12 feet for one of only two birdies on the 552-yard 17th.

That was supposed to be the hard part of his plan to birdie the last two holes. His 10-foot birdie putt on the 18th caught the right lip.

In his only other chance to win at Kapalua, he missed a 3 1/2 -foot birdie putt on the 18th in 2002 that would have forced a playoff.

“I swear I’ll make a putt one of these years on 18,” he said.

Europe survived a dramatic fightback to beat holders Asia 8-1/2 - 7-1/2 on Sunday, winning the Royal Trophy for the third time in a thrilling match that went to the final hole.

EUROPEAN TEAM WITH THE ROYAL TROPHY. Picture © Getty Images

Player-captain Colin Montgomerie’s Europe sealed victory when Henrik Stenson sank a nervy six-foot putt to halve with Thongchai Jaidee in the singles as the Thai favourite missed a 12-footer to take the competition to a sudden-death playoff.

Under pressure from a huge Amata Spring Country Club crowd hoping for him to miss, the Swede steadied himself with a deep breath and rolled the ball into the cup to deny Asia a second successive win after a superb performance on the last day.

“It was a do-or-die moment. I wasn’t playing good, I had to come back from three down and I knew I had the chance to win it,” Stenson told reporters.

“It wasn’t the easiest to hole but I finished it off.”

Europe led by a point going into the singles but were in a precarious position as Charlie Wi, Jeev Milkha Singh and Koumei Oda won on the last day for Asia.

Peter Hanson, Soren Kjeldsen and Pablo Martin replied with victories for the visitors while Montgomerie and Stenson came from behind to win important halves on the final hole.

Montgomerie said the triumph, and the intensity of the match, was the perfect preparation for October’s Ryder Cup in Wales where he will again skipper Europe.

“It was an incredible competition,” said the Scot after birdying the last to halve with China’s Liang Wenchong.

“We had a strong team and it was very close but I didn’t think it would be that close.

“All credit to this team of winners for fighting, they did great. It was a good start for European golf in a very important year.”

Thongchai, who has been one of the best performers in the Royal Trophy for Asia, was left rueing his missed putt at the last and apologised to his team mates.

“I was playing very well. It was a very tough final hole, it really wasn’t an easy putt,” he said.

“I let the team down, I want to apologise to them. I gave it all I had.”

The win left Europe with three Royal Trophy victories to Asia’s one. The competition returns to Thailand for a fifth year in 2011.

Asia captain Naomichi “Joe” Ozaki praised his players and said he had his sights set on taking the match to sudden-death.

“Before Thongchai stepped up to make the putt I had a scenario in my mind,” he said.

“I thought it would go in and we would throw our hats into the air and we would go into the playoff and win. It’s a shame it didn’t happen.”

Charl Schwartzel, the highest-ranked player in the field, won the Africa Open by one stroke on Sunday.

The world number 66 claimed his fourth European Tour title when he held off fellow South African Thomas Aiken after a closing six-under-par 67 secured a 20-under total of 272 at the East London Club.

CHARL SCHWARTZEL. Picture © Getty Images

Aiken (70), chasing his first European Tour victory, had a chance to force a playoff when he was left with a 15-foot birdie putt on the par-four 18th but his effort drifted to the right.

Schwartzel, 25, experienced some nervous moments on the last after pushing his drive and closing with a bogey.

“Hitting that tee shot right was not the ideal position to be in but I played almost flawless golf for the first 17 holes,” he told reporters after the first prize of 158,500 euros ($227,000) pushed him to the top of the European money list.

“Thomas made a really good run and put some pressure on me but I knew if I made five on the last he would have to make birdie to get to me. Luckily I did what I needed to do.”

South African Jbe Kruger (70) finished third on 274, one ahead of compatriots Trevor Fisher (72) and Chris Swanepoel (68), Briton James Morrison (68) and Australian Rick Kulacz (67).

Schwartzel, who dropped only one shot on Sunday, fired seven birdies including a run of four in the first seven holes.

He was three ahead after hitting a superb approach to three feet for a birdie at the par-four 14th.

Schwartzel, who last won on the European Tour at the 2008 Madrid Masters, picked up another stroke at the 15th but Aiken gained ground with three back-nine birdies.

The Africa Open was also co-sanctioned by the South African Sunshine Tour.