The winners and history of the Skins game

The Skins Game is a long-running golf event where four golfers play skins – a betting and match play format.

The Skins game ran from 1983 to 2008 (and returned in 2025) and has attracted some of golf’s biggest names over the years, including Jack Nicklaus, Arnold Palmer, Gary Player, Tom Watson and Tiger Woods.

The Skins game involves four players in what is essentially a match play format. Each hole has a monetary value and the low score on the hole wins the prize. If two or more are tied for the low score (players take a half), the money is carried over to the next hole. If the last hole is halved, there is a play-off. Any player who has not halved the hole in a play-off is out of the competition.

A variation on the format was used in 2001, when the player who won a hole had to halve or win the next hole to collect his skins from the previous hole. Only one player – Greg Norman – managed to do this. Norman won the 17th and finished bottom on the 18th, collecting $800,000, the largest skin collected for a single hole. He won the $200,000 in a play-off and thus won the entire prize money of $1 million dollars.

Fred Couples is called “Mr. Skins” because of his dominance in the Skins game. He has won $3,515,000 and 77 skins in 11 appearances. He has won a total of five of the Skins Games. He is also called the King of the Silly Season.

Annika Sorenstam is the only female player participating in the Skins Game.

The revived 2025 edition included four Ryder Cup players: Keegan Bradley, Tommy Fleetwood, Shane Lowry and Xander Schauffele

The list of past winners can be found below:

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