GOLF / SKINS GAME : It’s Palmer Against Kids at Bighorn

It’s officially known as the Skins Game, but make no mistake, this is Arnold Palmer’s show.

The fans who gather at Bighorn Golf Club today and tomorrow will be there for one reason: to see if Palmer can win a skin from Fred Couples, Payne Stewart and Paul Azinger.

The money isn’t going to be an issue, although they will be playing for $540,000.

Palmer is 64. He was playing the pro golf tour before any of the others were born. He had won two majors before two of them were born. The Palmer of 1993 bears little resemblance to the Palmer of 1963, except that now he’s even more popular.

But Palmer’s game? It has slowly slipped away. First, he started missing putts. Then he started missing fairways. Then he started missing cuts. His career has reached a point where he will play only if he can be certain he won’t embarrass himself.

That thought crossed his mind before he accepted the invitation to replace the suspended John Daly.

“My friends at Bay Hill told me I should play, and my family agreed to change the site of a planned weekend to the desert, so here I am,” Palmer said.

Although he acknowledges that he would have little chance in a regular tournament to beat the others, Palmer says it can happen in a skins game.

“All you need is one good hole, one good shot,” Palmer said. “I can do that.”

Stewart, who has won the event two years in a row, said he checked with New York Knick Coach Pat Riley and that it’s OK for him to say he’s trying to three-peat.

The first nine holes will begin at 10:30 this morning and the final nine Sunday at 8 a.m., but television will show it on Channel 7 at 12:30 p.m. today and 3:30 Sunday.

Each of the first six holes will be worth $20,000, the second six $30,000 and the last six $40,000.