On Nov. 27, 1983, the Sunday after Thanksgiving, the first Skins Game was held in Scottsdale with Vin Scully calling the action for NBC. Gary Player won $170,000 that year, but not without controversy—Tom Watson all but accused him of cheating at a key moment. With Jack Nicklaus and Arnold Palmer as the other two participants, it was an electric start to the franchise that continued through 2008, featuring the likes of Greg Norman, Tiger Woods and five-time winner Fred Couples through the years.
This Thanksgiving weekend, thanks to Pro Shop and its president Chad Mumm (producer of the Netflix documentary “Full Swing”), the Skins game is back for the first time in 17 years. It will air on the Friday morning after Thanksgiving on Prime Video and feature two-time major winner Xander Schauffele, U.S. Ryder Cup captain Keegan Bradley, and European Ryder Cup heroes Tommy Fleetwood and Shane Lowry. With Capital One as a title sponsor, Andrew Catalon will serve as host, with Colt Knost and Dan Rapaport tackling on-course duty.
“In the United States, we’ll be the only live sports on TV into the lead-in to the NFL game,” Mumm said during a conference call previewing the event. “Being a part of that Thanksgiving holiday, planting that flag back where it used to be for decades, was super important.”
Mumm spoke about the history and heritage of the Skins Game and the role nostalgia will play, promising that it will lend the broadcast a unique flavor.
“We’ve got a ton of history to build on,” he said. “We’ve got all those old highlights … we’ve got the iconic logo, we’ve got all the history. And I think that we live in a nostalgia culture right now, and I think that the audience of people who grew up watching this, they’re now the sort of core golf fan.”
The timing is perfect for the event, which will not only air in the lead-up to a busy sports day, but also on the same platform as some of the day’s big-ticket items—Amazon also holds the rights to the Bears-Eagles NFL game at 3 p.m., and two NBA games airing that evening (Bucks-Knicks and Mavs-Lakers). In addition, it’s Black Friday, one of Amazon.com’s biggest shopping days, which they hope will serve as a funnel for viewers.
The nostalgia that Mumm spoke about was a major draw for at least one of this year’s players.
“For me, growing up in New England, it was the end of the season, so I was bummed that golf was winding down,” Bradley said. “Then we always had this thing to look forward to, watching the legends of the game play, watching Jack and Lee Trevino, that shot of him making the hole in one on 17 at PGA West. And then being able to watch Tiger and Fred Couples … that was the first time we’d ever seen guys interact with each other while they were playing, and hear what they were saying to their caddies, and it was always just a really exciting thing to look forward to.”
All that said, this year’s format will feature a subtle twist away from tradition. As before, each hole will carry a dollar value, and tied holes will roll over, but this time there’s a “reverse purse,” in which the players start with $1 million each and their totals will rise and fall with each hole.
“We want it to be really competitive,” Mumm said. “That’s why we’re playing this format … when skins are won or lost, it’s coming out of their total, and if they don’t want to stick in, they can walk away with nothing. That’s the other aspect that maybe got lost in some of these silly season events in the past was just the inherent competition of actually giving these guys a reason to try to win.”
The first televised Skins Game was back in 1983, with Tom Watson, Jack Nicklaus, Gary Player and Arnold Palmer teeing it up at Desert Highlands in Scottsdale.
Carl Iwasaki
The banter between the four players, much of which involved Lowry and Fleetwood taking shots at Bradley for the Ryder Cup result, hinted that the competitive drive, although good-natured, was real.
“I’m just hoping our American friends celebrate their Thanksgiving way too much on Thursday,” said Lowry, a late replacement for Justin Thomas, who had to drop out of the event after his recent back surgery.
For the rest of us, whether we’re hungover on turkey or something more potent, the morning of Black Friday will offer a chance to experience professional golf in a way we haven’t for almost 20 years—a nostalgic turn for a nostalgic sport on a nostalgic holiday. Bring it on.
This article was originally published on golfdigest.com
