Woods’ Duty Is Skins Deep

Sure, it’s the Skins Game, but it’s also a continuation of the Tiger Woods World Tour, a rambling, two-week transoceanic, multi-tournament exercise in golf that seems to have left the traveler sort of tired.

“What do you think?” Woods said.

A peek at his itinerary would send most to the sofa. Tiger’s travelogue: 21/2 days in China for an exhibition, a week in Japan for the World Cup, three days in Hawaii for the PGA’s Grand Slam of Golf, Thanksgiving dinner with his parents in Orange County, then Friday morning in Indio for the pro-am of the Skins Game.

Woods said it was a tough schedule, but not as difficult as what he’d faced at this same time last year, when he played eight consecutive weeks.

“Brutal,” said Woods, who predicts he’ll be able to bounce back quickly. “I’m not that old,” he said.

Meanwhile, the Skins Game is aging gracefully, and it probably has Woods to thank for it.

This is the 19th version of the made-for-television special event and its third year at Landmark Golf Club, where Woods tees it up today with Greg Norman, Jesper Parnevik and defending champion Colin Montgomerie in the $1-million event.

Until Woods played his first Skins Game in 1996 at Rancho La Quinta, it had experienced generally declining ratings for 10 years. But Woods helped spike the 1996 rating to a two-day average of 6.2. Last year, when Woods did not play, the rating fell all the way to 2.6.

That’s not likely to happen again with Woods’ presence, which is part of his deal with Disney, which owns ABC, which is televising the Skins Game.

The gallery is limited to 10,000 and ticket prices are $55 for each day--nine holes today and nine Sunday. The rules were tweaked this year in an effort to make the money harder to win, and thus look bigger. If a player wins a skin, he must win or halve the next hole to keep the money or else it carries over.

Norman is playing in his fourth Skins Game. He was shut out three years ago in his last appearance, when Mark O’Meara won, but Norman doesn’t hold the Skins Game liable. In fact, he admires the tournament’s status in the so-called “silly season” of special events.

“It’s probably the best one,” Norman said. “It’s been supported by the big-name players over the years. The Skins Game has been the leader of the silly season in a way. It’s the leader of the pack.”

Last year, Montgomerie led the pack when he made $415,000 with six skins Sunday.

He has spent some time working on his putting with short-game guru Dave Pelz, but Montgomerie isn’t the only one who begins play today with something to prove.

Norman, at 46, gave up his PGA Tour card for 2002, but says he is completely recovered from surgery on his shoulder and hip.

Woods has to guard against exhaustion and over-scheduling.

Parnevik said he has some other concerns:

“My shoulder is fine, my hip is fine, my brain I’m not so sure about.”