Fraud Allegation That Rocked Skins Game Debut

of Game Skins is . . . BACK!

On Friday morning, Xander Schauffele, Tommy Fleetwood, Shane Lowry and Keegan Bradley will descend on one of South Florida’s newest playgrounds for the ultra-rich – National Panthers — to play a created TV (well, made-for-Amazon Prime) match that sounds a lot more fun than battling the bargain-hunting masses at Target or Best Buy.

There will be laughs and light-hearted barbs and barbs and maybe even a few squeaks when the stakes rise, but whatever unfolds, the proceedings have little chance of matching the heat produced by the closing moments of the inaugural Skins game in 1983.

The event’s debut brought together four of the all-time greats: Jack Nicklaus, Arnold Palmer, Gary Player and Tom Watson, winners, at the time, of 41 major titles. Assembling such firepower in the Arizona desert on Thanksgiving weekend couldn’t have been easy, but what certainly helped convince participants that the Desert Highlands schlep was worth their time was the staggering purse: $360,000. To put this figure into perspective, consider that the winner of the Masters that year, Seve Ballesteroswent home with just $90,000 for his trouble.

Tensions rose on the 240-yard par-3 16th hole, where $120,000 was on the line. (You can watch the full broadcast here.) Palmer played himself out of the mix by tapping into the wilderness; Nicklaus nearly holed a 90-foot birdie putt, but left himself 4 feet on the spin. And Watson calmly created to give the range for an easy level.

Then it was the Player’s turn, and that’s where things got blurry.

At one point before Player played his chip from the pin to the right of the green, Watson said he saw Player remove a root leaf from behind his ball, which is not allowed under the rules. Watson didn’t raise his concern at this point, so Player went about his business and got into tap-in range to match Watson’s level. The carry made the 17th hole worth 150, which was pocketed by the only player to birdie – yes, Gary Player.

Watson did not bite his tongue for long. Shortly after the round, he confronted the player on a dirt road near the press tent, in a conversation that was overheard by New York Times sportscaster Dave Anderson and that was featured in the Monday morning edition of the paper under the teasing title “The golf hole no one will forget.”

“I’m charging you, Gary,” Watson said, according to Anderson’s report, “you can’t do this. . . . I’m sick of it. . .”

To which the Player was heard saying: “I was within the rules.”

Watson never backed down from his accusation, nor did The Player back down from his self-defense, later writing of Watson’s finger-pointing: “I was shocked. Breaking the rules is, after all, the most heinous accusation against any golfer. When a champion is targeted, the consequences can be monumental.”