Getty Image / Ezra Shaw
It sounds like The Skins Game is returning to the golfing world and with some massive names headlining the event.
According to ESPN, Tiger Woods, Rory McIlroy, Jason Day and Hideki Matsuyama will do battle in a skins game format in Japan. The one-day event is set to take place at Accordia Golf Narashino Country Club on Oct. 21, a few days prior to the Zozo Championship which is a new PGA Tour event.
“The structure and prize money are to be determined, but the PGA Tour is sanctioning the event.
The Skins Game was once a popular offseason tournament that featured many of the game’s greats from 1983 to 2005 and was often contested Thanksgiving weekend. Woods played the event seven times, but he never won it.”
As for the prize money and format, those two factors are yet to be determined per the report. ESPN also indicated that the PGA Tour is sanctioning the event.
If you’ve played golf you’ve probably played in a skins game before, not for what these four guys will be playing for, but it’s a pretty simple format: a certain amount of money is played for on each hole and if you win the hole you earn the money and, traditionally, if you halve the hole the money gets carried over to the next hole.
If the PGA Tour decides to keep it traditional, it will (probably) still be entertaining, but they could throw in some other aspects into the format as well.
We of course saw Tiger and Phil take on one another in a match play event last year where Phil beat Tiger on the fourth playoff hole. That was entertaining enough and Woods taking on McIlroy, Matsuyama and Day certainly sounds pretty good on paper.
According to the report the event “is part of an agreement Woods has to provide content to GolfTV, an entity that does interviews and other features with Woods at international locations.”
Woods has been committed to playing in the Zozo Championship for quite some time now and it will most likely be the only tournament he plays in during the Fall.