Stephen Ames took home the big bucks Sunday in his first Skins Game.
Ames rolled in a 3-foot birdie putt on the third playoff hole in La Quinta, Calif., for $270,000 that gave him the championship with a total of $590,000.
“I forgot about the golf swing and just started playing golf,” Ames said. “I made some nice putts and hit some good shots where I made some skins early on.”
Five-time champion Fred Couples finished second with $385,000.
John Daly won one skin worth $25,000 and ruined his chance at the $270,000 still up for grabs when he drove into a fairway bunker on the third playoff hole.
Fred Funk, who won $925,000 and the title last year, was shut out in his second trip to the Skins.
Couples and Funk were eliminated on the second playoff hole, when Ames and Daly each had birdies.
Couples, who was making his 13th appearance and is known as “King of the Skins,” ran his career earnings in the event to $3.9 million.
Although he didn’t win this time, Couples played the best golf of the foursome, with 10 birdies and an eagle over 20 holes.
“Freddie should have won,” Daly said. “No offense to Stephen, but Freddie played better than all three of us. Stephen just got it at the right time.”
In Skins competition, a player wants to win the big-money holes as the pot builds. Ames won the title by taking eight skins and Couples won nine, but for less money.
Daly won the first hole of the two-day, 18-hole event, then had trouble off the tee and on the green most of the rest of the way.
“It just kind of sums up the way my putting’s been this year,” Daly said. “I haven’t made anything.”
Funk said it was no fun to get shut out in the defense of his title, but, “It was a good average for two years. It’s just a thrill to be a part of this Skins Game.”
Ames, the first touring pro from Trinidad and Tobago, made his Skins Game debut after winning The Players Championship this year.
The 42-year-old Ames, now a Canadian citizen, made $250,000 with a 1-foot birdie on No. 12, then rolled in an 18-footer for another birdie and $70,000 on No. 13.
Daly’s tee shot on the third playoff hole, the par-4, 415-yard No. 2 at Trilogy Golf Club, lodged deep in the sand, just below the lip of the bunker. Another 6 inches on his drive would have cleared it.
He hit out of the sand and into the fairway and Ames tucked his approach within 3 feet of the pin. Daly finally tapped in for a bogey before Ames sank his putt.
Australian Masters: England’s Justin Rose ended his four-year winless streak with a 1-over 73 in the event in Melbourne by two strokes.
Rose survived a triple bogey at the par-5 seventh hole and finished with a 12-under 276 total to claim his first win since the 2002 British Masters.
He held off challenges by Australians Richard Green, the 2004 champion who shot a 69, and Greg Chalmers (73). Amateur Aaron Pike, who led during the first two rounds, shot 74 and finished fourth.
Casio World Open: Jeev Milkha Singh of India shot a 4-under 68 to win the event in Kochi, Japan.
Singh, who began the day tied for the lead with Tetsuya Haraguchi, made five birdies and a bogey en route to a 16-under 272.
New Zealand’s David Smail had a 68 and finished second, two strokes back.
