A skins game is a type of scoring for various sports, most notably golf but also for curling and bowling.

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Golf

In golf, a skins event has players compete for prize money on each individual hole.

LG Skins Game

There is an annual skins game for male professional golfers which takes place in November or December each year after the end of the official PGA Tour season. It is recognized by the PGA Tour but does not count towards the official money list. It was most recently sponsored by LG and was officially known as the LG Skins Game, hosted at the Indian Wells Golf Resort in Indian Wells, California.

The Skins Game differs from most PGA Tour golf tournaments in several ways. Only four golfers are invited to the tournament and the golfers play to win individual holes or "skins" in a match play format. Each hole is assigned a different monetary value and the golfer who wins the hole with the best score outright wins the money for that hole. In the event that two or more golfers tie (which is called "halving") on a hole, the skins carry over to the next hole. In the event that two or more golfers halve the final hole, a playoff begins until one golfer wins a hole outright. (In a playoff that requires more than one playoff hole, if a player is not one of those that halve the playoff hole, he is eliminated—it is not "one tie, all tie".)

Fred Couples is given the nickname of "Mr. Skins" because of his dominance in the Skins Game. He has won $3,515,000 and 77 skins in 11 appearances. He has won five of the Skins Games overall.

The 2009 Skins Game, originally set for Thanksgiving weekend 2009, was canceled in May 2009 after LG pulled out of sponsorship. ^[1]

Prize money is awarded as follows:

Hole	Prize Money (per hole)
1-6	$25,000
7-12	$50,000
13-17	$70,000
181	$200,000

¹ This is known as a "super skin" The total prize money is exactly $1 million.

Rule change

In 2001, the player winning a hole outright had to tie or win the next hole to collect his skins from the previous hole. This was very tough to do. Greg Norman was the only one that could back up his win on the previous hole. He won the 17th and tied for low on the 18th hole to collect $800,000, the largest skin collected for one hole. He won the $200,000 in a playoff to win the entire $1 million dollar prize money. This rule was rescinded the following year.

Milestones

• 1983: First Skins Game held, with Jack Nicklaus, Tom Watson, Arnold Palmer, and Gary Player as the participants. NBC televises the event throughout the U.S. with Vin Scully as the announcer. The only notable affilaiate not to televise the first event was KYW-TV in Philadelphia.
• 1996: Tiger Woods makes the first of three straight appearances in the event. He has never won.
• 2001: Only time the validation system was used (see above). Also, the first (and only) time a player wins all 18 skins.

Winners

Year	Winner	Winnings
2009	Cancelled
2008	K.J. Choi	$415,000
2007	Stephen Ames (2)	$675,000
2006	Stephen Ames	$590,000
2005	Fred Funk	$925,000
2004	Fred Couples (5)	$640,000
2003	Fred Couples (4)	$605,000
2002	Mark O'Meara (2)	$405,000
2001	Greg Norman	$1,000,000
2000	Colin Montgomerie	$415,000
1999	Fred Couples (3)	$635,000
1998	Mark O'Meara	$430,000
1997	Tom Lehman	$300,000
1996	Fred Couples (2)	$280,000
1995	Fred Couples	$270,000
1994	Tom Watson	$210,000
1993	Payne Stewart (3)	$280,000
1992	Payne Stewart (2)	$220,000
1991	Payne Stewart	$260,000
1990	Curtis Strange (2)	$225,000
1989	Curtis Strange	$265,000
1988	Raymond Floyd	$290,000
1987	Lee Trevino	$310,000
1986	Fuzzy Zoeller (2)	$370,000
1985	Fuzzy Zoeller	$255,000
1984	Jack Nicklaus	$240,000
1983	Gary Player	$170,000

TELUS Skins Game

There is an annual skins game in Canada for male professional golfers which takes place in June or July each year. It is recognized by the PGA Tour but does not count towards the official money list. It is currently sponsored by Telus and is officially known as the Telus World Skins Game, hosted at a different golf course each year within Canada.

Over the past two years the Telus Skins Game has also incorporated a theme, which has been a "world" theme. The "world" theme incorporates 5 golfers located from different regions across the globe (5 golfers from different countries).

Notes

The popularity of the tournament led to the term skins game being used to refer to progressive jackpot events where if a prize is not won, it is carried over to the next round for a combined jackpot.

At least in the early versions of the Jack Nicklaus Golf series of computer games, players were given a choice of stroke play or Skins rules (and in the initial set-up of a game, could set any value for any hole).

Curling

A skins game format has also been adapted to the game of curling. In this format, teams play for ends, not scoring within an end, though points (or in some competitions, prize money as in golf's version) may be assigned to each end. To win an end, the team that has "the hammer" — the one which throws the last stone in the end, an inherent advantage — must score at least two points (under normal scoring rules) to win the end. The other team may win the end by stealing one point. If the team with the hammer gets only one point or the end is blanked, then the game points or prize money associated with that end carry over to the next, as with the golf skins game. If there are unclaimed skins after the eighth end, they are usually played off with a "draw to the button" — each team throws a single stone into an empty house (target), with the stone coming closest to the button (center) winning.

Scoring in curling skins games is done in one of two methods: in one method, an "S" is denoted if a team wins a skin, and a "C" is denoted for the team with the hammer if there is a carryover. In any event, a "0" is denoted for the other team, and an asterisk is placed beside the team with the hammer. In the other method, an "X" is denoted if a team wins a skin, and a "0" is denoted if the skin is carried over (under the team with the hammer), with the other team's entry for the end being blank. This method, however, does not keep track of which team will have the hammer in an end (which instead must be determined based on the score markings).

The Continental Cup of Curling is the best-known bonspeil to utilize the skins format. In this bonspeil, the first game in the skins portion is played for a total of 30 points, with point values assigned on an escalating basis to each end as follows: Two points each for the first two ends, three points for the next three ends, four for the sixth end, six for the seventh end and seven for the eighth. The second game is for 40 points (distributed as 2-2-4-4-5-6-7-10), and the third for 60 points (4-4-6-6-7-9-11-13). These points are combined with those earned in earlier matches of mixed doubles, singles skills and traditional team games to determine the winner of the Cup, either the team from North America or Europe.

The TSN Skins Game was an annual tournament which featured skins games. The Network will be re-starting the event in 2007.

The Skins Game was thought to have been invented by Doug Maxwell, a noted innovator in the sport.

References

1. Skins Game to take year off due to economy. Associated Press. 8 May 2009.