Golf : Fuzzy Looking Forward to Skinning Rivals Again at PGA West

The answers are yes, yes and possibly. So when the fifth annual Skins Game is played in late November at PGA West, Fuzzy Zoeller will be back to try for a third consecutive big payday.

For the second consecutive year, Zoeller will be playing against Jack Nicklaus, Arnold Palmer and Lee Trevino.

This awesome foursome will be out to accomplish two things. First, they must try to club the unruly PGA West into submission. Then, with $450,000 in prize money at stake, they hope the microphones they will be wearing for television do not pick up any funny sounds, as in choking.

Professional golf's version of Lotto, the Skins Game seems to be evolving into the type of event that its creator, Don Ohlmeyer, thought it had a chance to become. Ohlmeyer thinks the Skins Game works because it's the right concept.

"It's easily understandable," he said. "We attract a lot of people who don't ordinarily watch golf. People watch Skins because it's an event, number one, and it's not like watching a tournament where on Saturday there's no climax. Our telecast, every hole is a tournament unto itself.

"And everybody knows the players, even if they don't follow golf. You take somebody who's really not a golf fan and he's heard of Arnold Palmer. He's heard of Jack Nicklaus. He's heard of Lee Trevino. He's heard of Fuzzy Zoeller. And for people who do follow golf, it's kind of a dream foursome."

The first year of the Skins, the selection procedure was a little different than it is now. Ohlmeyer said that he and Barry Frank, senior vice president of Trans World International, which co-produces the event with Ohlmeyer, chose the players while having a glass of wine. Now, the foursome comprises the defending champion, Zoeller; two chosen by a panel of PGA-selected golf experts, Nicklaus and Trevino, and a fourth in on a sponsor's exemption, Palmer.

Nicklaus and Palmer have played in all of the Skins Games, and Nicklaus made the biggest putt in Skins history. In 1984, he won $240,000 by sinking a birdie putt on the 18th hole. No one had won any of the previous holes, so the money carried over from each one.

The Skins guys will play the front nine holes at PGA West on Saturday Nov. 28 and the back nine the next day. The first six holes are worth $15,000 each, the middle six holes are worth $25,000 and the last six holes are worth $35,000.

Ohlmeyer thinks this makes for great television. The golf doesn't even have to be great, either, for the show to be a success.

"We mike the players and people (viewers) feel like they're eavesdropping," he said. "The guys are loose. Then as the money gets bigger, people at home can watch the tension build because the guys aren't talking and they're not funny."

And the Skins Game is not what?

"Not the U.S. Open or the British Open or the PGA," Ohlmeyer said. "It doesn't have the tradition. It doesn't have the prestige. Nobody puts on their resume, 'I won $50,000 at the Skins Game.' "

Zoeller certainly can't put that on his. His says he has won $625,000.

Ohlmeyer is also introducing a new national Skins Game this year, pairing PGA club pros and amateurs. If regional winners make it through to the finals on the same weekend as the Skins, the prize money is $108,000. One regional competition will be held at Coto de Caza on Sept. 11. There is a $1,000 entry fee.

The LPGA, which lost a tournament when the Glendale Federal folded after three years, is optimistic that it can put another tournament in Los Angeles next year. Glendale Federal Savings and Loan withdrew its sponsorship of the tournament shortly after the Oakmont Country Club voted not to negotiate a new contract.

"We are actively pursuing the creation of a new tournament, although it won't be at Oakmont," said John D. Laupheimer, commissioner of the LPGA. "We're optimistic about 1988."

Laupheimer said that a new LPGA tournament might still be held in Glendale, although he did not say where. He also did not say what sponsors might be interested. He did say that the tentative dates are April 14-17.

The Glendale Federal, a $250,000 event won this year by Jane Geddes, was killed when the Oakmont membership voted to call it quits, 117-113.

"The basic feeling was that three years was enough," said Oakmont General Manager Steve Hockett. "The members spend a lot of money to be part of this country club and they wanted privacy."

Oakmont golfers were denied use of the course for a week during the tournament, and Hockett said the membership decided it just wasn't worth it. He said course rental was $50,000 this year and the new contract guaranteed Oakmont $60,000 up to as much as $90,000.

The death of the Glendale Federal leaves the LPGA with only two events in Southern California, in San Diego and Rancho Mirage. The LPGA event at Costa Mesa's Mesa Verde Country Club died after the 1986 tournament.