Couples’ 10-Foot Putt Worth $27,000 a Foot : Skins Game: It comes on fifth playoff hole, sets a record and gives him victory over Pavin, who wins $240,000 over two days.

On the 23rd hole of the Skins Game, on Sunday’s 14th hole, on the fifth playoff hole, after missing four putts that threatened to leave his wallet as flat and empty as the desert around Bighorn Golf Club, Fred Couples did something really different.

He made a putt. It wasn’t any old putt, either, because the one he rolled in was worth $270,000 and it won the 13th Skins Game for Couples.

The 10-foot putt on No. 18, the fourth time he and Corey Pavin played that hole, was much more than just a ball rolling and disappearing from a green.

It was money, it was lots of it, and it was going directly into Fred’s pocket.

The $270,000 was the largest sum won on one hole at the Skins Game, which probably isn’t so surprising. If the Skins Game has taught us anything, it’s that large amounts of money are involved here.

Maybe someday, players will not be riding in golf carts, but in Brinks trucks. Anyway, a runner-up to Tom Watson last year, Couples improved his position considerably this time.

He did it with a simple Skins Game philosophy.

“A putt or two is going to win you this thing, in my opinion,” Couples said. “You don’t have to hit the ball great for 18 holes. You need to do that to win a regular tournament.”

After all, the Skins Game is no regular tournament. It’s a two-day stroll through a bank lobby in spikes. The Skins Game ain’t over ‘til the fat teller sings, or something like that, Couples said.

“I knew, until it stopped, I was going to have a chance,” he said.

His chance came, finally, at the expense of Pavin, who finished second with $240,000 that included a $90,000 12-foot birdie putt on No. 12.

“I was watching him on that [winning] putt,” Pavin said. “I knew it was over just watching him stand over it.”

By then, Peter Jacobsen and Watson were eating lunch and watching television. They were eliminated on the first playoff hole when Couples and Pavin birdied.

The playoff began on 18 and alternated between 17 and 18.

Jacobsen finished with one first-day, $30,000 skin, although he had a chance for much more, like $270,000, when he made a 22-foot birdie putt on No. 18 in regulation. But Couples made his 10-footer to halve the hole and start the ball rolling in the playoff.

“I wasn’t even thinking about the money,” Jacobsen said with a straight face. “I was actually thinking about the pride of making the putt.”

Right. Meanwhile, Watson was shut out.

“I played pretty ugly,” he said. “They played a lot better than I did.”

Watson joins an illustrious group that has been blanked. It includes Arnold Palmer (1984, 1987, 1993), Gary Player (1984), Jack Nicklaus (1986, 1991), Curtis Strange (1988), Tom Kite (1992) and Paul Azinger (1993).

Couples left a lot of money all over the place until that fifth playoff hole.

On No. 10, he missed a 15-footer for birdie worth $60,000.

On No. 14, he missed a 10-footer for birdie worth $110,000.

On No. 16, he missed a six-footer for birdie worth $170,000.

On the second playoff hole, No. 17, he missed an eight-footer for birdie worth $270,000.

“It all comes down to putting,” Couples said. “I don’t think too many [winning] putts were holed.”

That was true enough, because there were 11 consecutive holes carried over, between Pavin’s skin at No. 12 and Couples’ biggest skin of all in the playoff.

“You don’t really want to be shut out and I was well on my way to doing that,” Couples said. “I guess it was well worth the wait.”