Arnie, 56, Shows Few Wrinkles in His Skins Game, Tops Foursome

The Skins Game, it turns out, is no different from the United States Open, the Los Angeles Open, the Greater Milwaukee Open or the PGA Seniors, in one respect.

When Arnold Palmer is there, that’s where the crowd is, that’s where the cheering is the loudest, and that’s where the oldsters and the youngsters gather to form new regiments of Arnie’s Army.

Arnold was here Saturday, at 56 slugging it out on the waterlogged Bear Creek course with a couple of kids--Fuzzy Zoeller, 34, and Tom Watson, 36, and Palmer’s old nemesis, Jack Nicklaus, 45.

This time, there was more than nostalgia for his fans to cheer about. Palmer, easy to spot with his unruly thatch of gray hair, was magnificent. He drilled his irons to the green with a flair reminiscent of 25 years ago when he won the Open at Cherry Hills and one of his four Masters at Augusta National.

After missing a 10-inch putt on the first hole to give Nicklaus an unexpected $15,000 skin with a par, Palmer kept the enthusiastic crowd of about 2,500 cheering with four birdies in the last six holes. Only two of them were good for skins, however, as first Watson and then Nicklaus deprived him of more bonus money when they also made birdies.

Palmer collected $45,000 Saturday, Watson $30,000 and Nicklaus $15,000--with the remaining $75,000 being carried over to the 10th hole today, when the four players shoot the back nine at Bear Creek.

No. 10, which at 389 yards is one of the shortest par-four holes on the Nicklaus-designed course, has a $25,000 payoff of its own, making today’s opening hole worth $100,000.

Asked how he would sleep, knowing he had a $100,000 hole coming up at 8:30 a.m., Watson said: “Lightly.” Palmer, obviously pleased with himself, grinned and answered: “On my back.”

Zoeller, the newcomer among Skins competitors, was blanked in his first appearance in the Don Ohlmeyer-produced gambling show.

“I had a wonderful day,” the irrepressible Zoeller said. “I spent the day cheerleading.”

The Skins Game creates situations in which, after one player makes a birdie or perhaps a difficult par, the others root for one another to make their putts--because if there is one tie, all tie.

One such occurance came on the eighth hole, a 171-yard par 3 where all four players hit the green with their tee shots. Nicklaus was 20 feet away, Watson 15, Palmer 12 and Zoeller 8.

Nicklaus missed, but Watson rolled his ball to the edge of the cup, where it appeared to stop--then fell in. Now Zoeller and Nicklaus were rooting for Palmer to match Watson’s deuce, and Arnie responded with a putt that rolled dead center into the hole.

Zoeller, who had the closest putt for a birdie, picked up his ball and gave Palmer a bear hug.

“I knew he would make it,” Zoeller said. “He didn’t have any pressure on him. . . . He knew I was right back of him.”

The ninth hole, a 552-yard par 5 on which both Palmer and Nicklaus had eagle putts--if you can call 95- and 75-footers putting --was almost a reversal of the first hole, where Palmer had missed the 10-incher.

Palmer’s 95-footer on No. 9 was slowing at the hole and missed the cup by about an inch, finally stopping a couple of feet away. Nicklaus came even closer, his 75-foot putt rolling over the edge of the hole.

Palmer made his putt for a birdie and watched as Nicklaus stood over his 15-inch tap.

“I was nice enough to give one like that to Jack on the first hole,” Palmer said. “I asked him if he would reciprocate and return the favor.”

But he didn’t. Nicklaus stroked home his birdie putt and created the first overnight carry-over in three years of Skins Games.

Palmer gave evidence of his sharp iron game on the opening hole, a 419-yard par 4, when he smacked a 2-iron shot about 14 feet from the pin. He was the only one on the green in 2 as Nicklaus pushed his approach into thick greenside grass, Zoeller was under an oak tree and Watson was out of bounds.

Nicklaus chipped weakly, leaving himself about six feet from a par. Palmer stroked his 14-foot birdie putt boldly and the ball lipped the cup and stopped 10 inches away. Instead of marking his ball and having Nicklaus putt first, Palmer tapped it, but it didn’t go in. It was three putts for a bogey.

Nicklaus won $15,000 by sinking his par putt.

“My (2-iron) second shot pleased me, but my second putt didn’t,” Palmer said. “I was pretty careless, and I gave it a little yip at the same time. It was so short that I really didn’t think I could miss it.”

Zoeller piped up: “It couldn’t have been too close, Arnie. No one said it was a ‘gimme.’ ”

Watson, a six-time PGA player of the year but winless in 1985, got his $15,000 skin with a birdie 3 on the second hole, a 423-yard par 4. He hit a 5-iron second shot six feet from the hole and sank the putt.

The third hole was halved with par 5s as Palmer had the closest birdie putt but pulled it.

“I pulled my putts on the first and third hole,” Palmer said. “After that, I made a minor adjustment on my putting stroke and I putted pretty well.

“The irons made me especially happy. I hadn’t been able to hit the greens with my irons lately.”

Palmer, who played last week in the Boca Raton Seniors tournament, scored a $30,000 double skin with a birdie 3 on the fourth hole, considered the most difficult at Bear Creek. While Nicklaus was hitting his tee shot into a grass bunker and his second shot into a sand bunker before picking up, Palmer was down the center with his drive and on the green with his 5-iron second shot, only eight feet from the pin.

After Watson and Zoeller missed birdie attempts, Palmer made his.

“I needed that after giving the one way on the first hole,” he said.

Watson won another $15,000 skin with a birdie 3 on the fifth hole. All four were on the green in 2, but only Watson could find the hole with his first putt.

Then it was Palmer’s turn as he won another $15,000 on the tricky sixth hole, a 134-yard par 3. Watson and Zoeller hit their tee shots into bunkers, and after they blasted out, Palmer sank a 12-foot birdie putt that sent a thunderous roar across Murrieta valley.

Nicklaus had a shorter putt to deny Palmer his skin, but it hit the cup and lipped out.

The final three holes of the first day, worth $25,000 each, were tied and Palmer was involved in all three--with Zoeller on No. 7 with a par, with Watson on No. 8 with a birdie and with Nicklaus on No. 9 with another birdie.

“The way I was going, I’d like to keep going and finish it off right now,” Palmer said.