Real Money Makes Skins Game King Of Silly Season

The ratings for the Skins Game were always strong, but what do the Nielsens know? For that matter, who among us has ever known a Nielsen family, and if any do exist, when they collectively produce numbers that are unbelievable, might we assume they are unreliable, too?

Never assume, a wise man once said. A year ago, the ABC affiliate in San Diego, KGTV, learned first-hand that the Skins Game has a widespread, albeit curious, appeal that contributes to its formidable ratings that are borderline unbelievable.

KGTV chose not to air the Skins Game in 1994, instead offering infomercials.

“We heard from a lot of viewers who were very angry about it, and rightly so,” said Don Monday, a programming director at KGTV.

This year, the station will broadcast the Skins Game, featuring Tom Watson, Fred Couples, Corey Pavin and Peter Jacobsen today and Sunday at Bighorn Golf Club in Palm Desert.

The Skins Game has become a Thanksgiving weekend tradition, same as leftovers, though it is not the turkey so many expected it would be from its inception in 1983. It might be more television show than golf, but it always has a strong cast and at least a modicum of drama, the product of so much money at stake on a single hole, once as much as $260,000.

Each of the first six holes is worth $20,000. The middle six holes each are worth $30,000, with the final six holes worth $40,000 each. If no individual wins a hole outright, the money is carried over to the next hole.

Last year, the Skins Game was the fourth highest-rated golf telecast, trailing only the Masters, the Senior Skins Game and the U.S. Open. Its television audience was about 6.4 million, more than the PGA Championship or the British Open. Generally, it ranks among the top three golf telecasts of the year, and in 1986 it actually was first, generating a larger audience than the Masters, won that year by Jack Nicklaus.

“First of all,” said Vin Scully, who has broadcast all but one of the 12 Skins Games, “the seal of approval, the imprimatur, if you will, was put on it in 1983. Arnold Palmer, Jack Nicklaus, Gary Player and Tom Watson told you it was something more than another made-for-TV show.

“If it was good enough for Palmer, Player, Nicklaus and Watson, it was certainly a prime-time event. It’s not something that would fool these four great players.”

The Skins Game was the first of what has evolved into a series of postseason made-for-TV golf events. These events now form what is called golf’s second season, or “silly season,” according to the cynical.

Still, the audience for every Shark Shootout, Lexus Challenge and Diner’s Club Matches collectively might be engulfed by the throngs watching a Skins Game.