It’s All or Nothing at Skins Game : Golf: Whoever wins the hole wins the money. Watson, Couples, Azinger and Stewart will rely on their putting.

It’s about golf, it’s about money, it’s about television. It’s the Skins Game, a made-for-television 18-hole excursion that’s strictly funds and games.

Tom Watson, Fred Couples, Paul Azinger and Payne Stewart play nine holes today and nine more Sunday at Bighorn Golf Club, where $540,000 will be won by the players who can make putts.

Last year at Bighorn, Stewart took most of the money, $280,000 on nine skins. Couples also had nine skins and won $260,000.

There will be $180,000 on the line today, $20,000 the first six holes, $30,000 the next three. And $360,000 will be at stake Sunday.

The Skins rules are simple. Whoever wins a hole outright wins the money. If no one wins the hole outright, the money carries over to the next hole.

Other than that, there’s nothing to it.

“It’s a relaxing format in which you are not concerned about your score,” Stewart said. “You play nine holes each day. They don’t total it up at the end of the day with the low score winning.

“It’s kind of a go-for-broke format and have a little fun at it,” he said.

Couples, Azinger and Watson were selected to play by a special panel, but Stewart got in because he is the defending champion. Stewart also won in 1991 and 1992 and his $760,000 in three Skins Games is a record.

Stewart said his motivation is simple.

“It definitely is income related,” he said.

Stewart’s income wasn’t up to its usual plateau this year. He won $145,687, which was 123rd on the PGA Tour money list, his lowest finish since his rookie year in 1981.

Stewart changed clubs this year and never seemed at ease. He had only two top-10 finishes in 23 events.

“My brief summary of 1994?” Stewart said. “It stunk. That’s it in a nutshell.

“My play hasn’t merited being invited to the Skins Game. Being a made-for-TV event and always inviting back the champion, I figured I could get in one golf tournament every year if I kept winning the Skins Game.”

Azinger played Bighorn last year, knowing he would have a biopsy on his aching right shoulder two days later. When he did, his problem was diagnosed as lymphoma and he underwent chemotherapy and radiation.

Azinger returned for the Buick Open in Michigan and played the PGA as the defending champion, then played the Southern Open and the Disney.

He said he felt he was “on display” in his comeback.

“It’ll be different at the Skins Game,” he said. “Being on display was something I had to get kind of out of the way. I was there to be seen--’Hey, I’m back, I look OK.’ I do think I have that behind me.”

Couples probably is the favorite, mainly because he has won $580,000 in special events in November.

Watson, who hasn’t played in the Skins Game since 1985, said he he has a new putting style. “I’m not going to miss any putts anymore,” he said. “These guys are going to be very surprised this week.”