Skins Game: 1996-2005, Tiger Woods Enters Competition

Tiger Woods is perhaps the greatest player in the history of professional golf. But the Skins Game was his one big weakness.

As the Skins Game moved into the mid-1990s and early 2000s, it received a boost. A huge boost. And it came in the form of Tiger Woods, the young phenom who had been a household name for a number of years and who had just turned pro in 1996 but who would change the history of golf..

Woods joined the Skins Game in 1996 but only won $40,000 as he saw Fred Couples win for the second straight season. Couples took home $280,000 that season, beating out Tom Watson, who played in his final Skins Game that season.

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In 1997, Woods was back as he finished a calendar year that included a 12-shot win at the Masters. However, he was only able to win $60,000 in the Skins Game as Tom Lehman edged Mark O’Meara by winning $300,000 and taking first place.

Woods would skip out of the next three Skins Game events. In 1998, O’Meara won a then-record $430,000 to edge out Lehman, who was trying to defend his title.

But O’Meara’s record would last only one year as Couples won his third Skins Game title with a then-record $635,000 in prize money. O’Meara was left in the runner-up spot.

The prize money continued to increase, even if the really big names were staying away from the event. In the 2000 Skins Game, Colin Montgomerie won the first prize and $415,000, holding off Vijay Singh. It was Montgomerie’s only Skins Game title.

Then in 2001, organizers tried to spice up the event with a couple of items.

First, Woods was back after not playing since 1997. And the second item was something that lasted just one year. It was called skin validation. That meant that a player had to win a skin, then win ANOTHER skin to validate what he had won on the previous hole.

It was a terrible idea that lasted just one year. But it did produce a record prize money payout as Greg Norman claimed all 18 skins and won a cool $1 million prize.

Woods would make three more appearances (2002, 2004 and 2005) without a win. In 2002, it was O’Meara claiming his second title, topping Phil Mickelson. The following year, in 2003, Couples won his fourth Skins Game title and Annika Sorenstam, the first woman to play in the event, took second place.

Couples won his fifth title in 2004, as Woods finished second. And in 2005, Fred Funk won his only Skins Game title, as Woods was second again.

Woods was a hot draw, but the Skins Game was not his favored format, as evidenced by his results in the event. Still, he drew eyeballs to television sets, which was good for the competition.