Couples Plays Heavy, Palmer Gets Skinned : Golf: Stewart wins competition again with $280,000. Fans’ favorite is blanked.

Fred Couples couldn’t have felt worse if he had robbed Santa Claus.

He was a villain to everybody except Payne Stewart, a traitor to golf fans who worship every divot left by Arnold Palmer.

He made the putts that would have given skins to Palmer if had missed them.

He missed the putts that enabled Stewart to win two big-money holes Sunday at Bighorn Golf Club.

Stewart won the 391-yard 13th hole, which was worth three skins and $100,000, and the 436-yard 16th hole, a three-skin hole worth $120,000. Including the $60,000 he won during the first nine holes on Saturday, Stewart won $280,000 and became the first player in the 11-year history of the Skins Game to win the title three years in a row.

Couples, who went from Boom Boom to Boo Boo, finished second with $260,000. He won $150,000 on Saturday, added $30,000 with a birdie on the 421-yard 10th hole Sunday, and closed out his villain’s work with an $80,000 birdie at the 426-yard 18th hole that just about eliminated Palmer’s last chance at a skin.

Palmer could have sent the Skins to extra holes by matching Couples, but his birdie putt from 18 feet went past the hole on the high side.

Palmer and Paul Azinger were blanked. Nobody was feeling sorry for Azinger, because he already had a tremendous year. Besides, he had an excuse. He was playing with a bad back.

Palmer had an excuse, too. At 64, spotting his rivals more than 30 years.

But that didn’t stop him from reaching back to make some vintage Palmer shots from time to time. The only thing that stopped Palmer was Couples.

“I feel so bad,” Couples said. “I really did want to see Arnie win one. It would have been so great. I didn’t care if Paul didn’t win a skin, but Arnie is special.”

Couples even hinted he was trying to help Palmer at least once. It was at the 505-yard 15th, a two-skin hole worth $80,000. Stewart had already taken himself out of the hole by knocking his second shot into a lake.

Palmer, from 230 yards, hit a three-wood for his second shot and the ball landed in the rough, just off the green. Azinger had laid up with his second shot, then hit his third shot 10 feet from the pin.

Couples was facing an awkward second shot with a two-iron from 220 yards because the ball was on a knoll and was waist-high in relation to his stance. With a baseball-like swing, Couples started the ball to the right of his target and hooked it back toward the green. It went through the green and stopped in some light rough.

“That was a one-in-20 shot,” Couples said. “That ball could just as easily hooked into the water, or it could have stayed right. The funny thing is that there was no pressure. If I didn’t pull it off, Arnold was close to the green and would have probably won the skin. That would have been fine with me.”

Palmer almost won it anyhow. His eagle chip from 30 feet missed by inches.

“I thought the ball was in the cup,” Palmer said. “It was going right at the hole, then hit a wall and curled left.”

He had a tap-in birdie and the only way it could be taken away from him was if Couples got up and down from the rough or if Azinger, who had done nothing all day, made his 10-foot putt.

“Again, I was feeling no pressure,” Couples said “I kind of wanted Arnold to win the hole, but I wasn’t going to give it to him. But I did chip the ball a little hard. I was trying to make it in the sense that I wanted the ball to hit the flag and go in, but I knew if I missed it, it would roll past the hole a ways. I mean, it was a 30-foot chip that went 20 feet past the hole.”

Then, just as he did the first day with a 30-foot putt, Couples denied Palmer by making his 20-footer.

“It was the easiest putt I had all day, probably because there was no pressure to make it,” Couples said.

When Couples faced real pressure that would have stopped Stewart’s run, he missed. The first one was from 15 feet on the 13th green, the second from 10 feet on the 16th green.

“You should give Payne some credit,” Couples said. “He’s the one who made all of the putts he had to, and he’s been doing it for three years.”

Stewart’s birdie putts for the skins were from 20 feet at the 13th and from 18 feet on the 16th.

“I think the reason I have done so well is because it’s such a nice format and we’re all trying to have fun,” he said. “But I’m like everybody else. I wanted see Arnold win one. But we weren’t going to give him anything. He would expect it and we wouldn’t do that.”

Then, turning serious, Stewart said the victory was special for another reason. He gave his trophy to Joel Broering, 16, who has leukemia and was Stewart’s guest because of the Special Wish Foundation.

“It puts everything in perspective,” Stewart said about his meeting with Broering. “He might not even be here by Christmas. I get to come back next year. It makes you realize what’s really important.”