It’s “Throwback Thursday” a day when our team looks back at the business and the community to reflect on what was, and what is.
During the inaugural Skins Game in 1983 at Desert Highlands, tension broke out on the 16th hole when Tom Watson accused Gary Player of cheating. With $120,000 on the line, Watson was overheard confronting Player about improving his lie, which Player viciously denied.
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- The Skins Game was an unofficial-money event on the PGA Tour from 1983 to 2008. It took place in November or December each year after the end of the official PGA Tour season. It was recognized by the PGA Tour but did not count towards the official money list.
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- The skins-game format in golf has long been a staple of friendly competitions among amateurs, but it reached national prominence in 1983 when a skins game was televised with four legends competing: Arnold Palmer, Gary Player, Jack Nicklaus and Tom Watson.
You may know I’m an avid golfer who grew up in Canada. I have been in the real estate business for 38 years, and the last 19 years right here in Scottsdale.
From the very start, it is the PGA Skins game that interested me in Scottsdale and the then, new and premier Desert Highlands Golf Club. In fact, it convinced me Scottsdale was a great place to do business and Desert Highlands became my home.
The first PGA Skins Game was played in 1983 at Desert Highlands Golf Club airing on NBC stations across the Americas (yes, including Canada) with Vince Scully commentating. The event took place on Thanksgiving weekend after the end of the official PGA Tour season.
While the PGA recognized the event, the purse was not included on the official money list. It was intended to be a showcase for the player-personalities and to highlight ‘the love of the game’. I looked forward to the battle every year!
The event was played Thanksgiving weekend from 1983 – 2008 and produced some of the most memorable and personable moments in golf. It is a tournament I’m hopeful will resume someday. Look at our blog to learn about the best moments in PGA Skins history.
Besides the vibrancy of both the fans and the people in the skins tournament each year, the other difference between this event and other PGA tournaments is remarkable. Only four golfers were invited to play in the tournament each year.
They played to win individual holes or ‘skins’ using a match play format. Monetary values varied from hole to hole.
The golfer taking the hole with the best score won the money for that hole. If two or more players tied for the win on a hole (halving the hole), the skin carried over to the next hole and so did the money. When, or if, the final hole is halved a playoff begins, until one golfer wins outright.
First PGA Skins game with ‘fab-four’ at Desert Highlands
The first year, the fab-four of golf, Arnold Palmer, Gary Palmer, Jack Nicklaus and Tom Watson duked it out at Desert Highlands. On 12, Arnold Palmer sunk a 40′ putt for birdie and won $100,000; a lot of money back then.
But it was Gary Player who took home the largest piece of the pie at the Desert Highlands inaugural event. He earned $170,000 that year. $150,000 of his prize money came from a 4-foot birdie putt on 17. It is said that Player was visibly shaking on the putt. That $150,000 was more than he had ever won in a single year of his career. Don Ohlmeyer told Arizona Golf, “He [Gary Player] was hyperventilating so bad he couldn’t take the club back on 18.”
Skins Game On Tv
What’s truly wonderful, as I think back on this ‘Throwback Thursday” is that not everything changes. In 1983, and today, Desert Highlands remains a premier country club in Scottsdale.
I’m still an avid golfer and Desert Highlands is one of my favorite courses in town. Another thing that remains is the wonder of Scottsdale.
Scottsdale is one of the best places in the world to live, work and play and I’d love the opportunity to show you and your family the amazing communities of Scottsdale. We are your Arizona Golf Home and Scottsdale Real Estate specialists.
Reach out to us for more information on homes for sale and the community.
Don Matheson
Realtor Founder
The Matheson Team – RE/MAX Fine Properties
21000 N. Pima Rd., #100, Scottsdale, AZ 85255
480-405-4228
don@azgolfhomes.com
Tom Watson is biting down hard on his tongue, until it hurts. He comes to Royal Birkdale, site of his fifth and last British Open title in 1983, feeling utterly upbeat, like a kid again.
Somewhere between the recent Western Open and an exhibition in Austria, where he plays through 101-degree temperatures with Lee Trevino and Greg Norman, Watson sees his golf game come together. Putts dropping, irons crisper than before, confidence restored.
Alas, as Thursday`s first round beckons with an awful weather forecast that suits him just fine, Watson encounters the written wrath of Gary Player. Watson is a cheater, Watson is a louse, Watson is this, Watson is that. The tabloids go crazy, as they are wont to do, though the defendant does his best to halt the feeding frenzy.
'Consider the source,' says Watson, head bowed before his locker. 'It upsets me, and I don`t want to play golf this week upset. Besides, it would degrade this great championship to get involved in a debate now with the little man.'
The little man, Gary Player, always is selling himself. He will advertise his accomplishments whenever the spirit moves him, which is all too often. There`s no doubt this South African must be mentioned in the same breath with the sport`s other legends. If only Player would let his record save his breath. But no such luck.
Whenever compared with the finest ever, Jack Nicklaus, Player routinely prattles on about how his poor body has survived more plane rides than any other athlete`s. It`s almost as though the little man thinks miles count as birdies. Or trophies. Your ears can handle this tired refrain. What`s new is that Player now strives to sell a book, too. A book that sells the author, of course.
'I have to say on a personal level that I have never warmed to Tom as a person. I found him too dour,' Player reveals in 'To Be The Best.' And that`s the gentle stuff.
Player brands Watson as a sore loser who is discourteous to fellow pros. Then, bam, Player charges Watson achieved the 1977 Masters and British Open crowns while swinging weapons that did not conform to specification.
'I would hate to have won two of the world`s major championships,'
writes Player, 'knowing I had used illegally grooved clubs.'
1983 Skins Game Cheating Scene
Well, now, if that isn`t the pot calling the kettle black. For all his international success, Player can`t shake his notoriety as a golfer long suspected of taking indecent liberties with the rules of golf. He has been involved in several episodes, a few of which he broaches in his little autobiography.
One brouhaha concerns the original Skins Game of 1983 just outside Phoenix, where Watson accuses Player of removing a live leaf from behind his ball, an infraction. Player swears no to this day. Watson imagines that dispute has much to do with St. Gary`s literary effort.
1983 Skins Game Cheating Update
Watson, indeed, did have his clubs impounded in 1977 after the PGA Tour discovered a manufacturer`s error. But Raymond Floyd had to get another set, too, and even the little man had to surrender half the irons in his little bag. Watson since has won many tournaments while retaining his position as perhaps the most moral, upstanding pro in spikes. Player, meanwhile, comes off as a fellow quite adept at improving his lie in print, too.
Jurassic world the game cheat codes no survey. Player fantasizes the Skins scrum shall 'haunt' Watson for life because his action was 'astonishing behavior from a player of his caliber.' But Watson seems not haunted, only annoyed.
1983 Skins Game Cheating Wife
That, too, could pass, because European galleries adore him more than ever since last April`s Masters. Ian Woosnam, a local demi-god, was going for the victory and got it. But only after partner Watson, also in contention on that final day, soothed Woosie`s nerves on the No. 14 tee. An overserved Yankee wished Woosie evil, and loudly. Woosie had half a mind to jump the ropes until Watson, discourteous louse that he is, whispered something in the Welshman`s ear.
'Can we talk about Royal Birkdale?' Watson implores. 'A wonderful links course where, depending on the wind, you can hit a 4-iron 140 yards and a 9-iron 185 yards. The 2-iron I hit here to the 18th green on Sunday of 1983 is still one of the best shots in my life. I can`t wait.'
Freddie Couples can. A close friend of Watson`s, he reads all the insults. Freddie then receives Thursday`s and Friday`s pairings. He is to play with the little man.
'Anyway,' Couples says with a grin, 'how are the Cubs doing?'