PONTE VEDRA BEACH, Fla. — The Skins Game is coming back to the golf calendar after 17 years, with a few new aspects.
The Skins Game will be played on the Friday after Thanksgiving. As it did when it started in 1983, it will feature among the top six golfers in the world: Ryder Cup star and FedEx Cup champion Tommy Fleetwood, U.S. Ryder Cup captain Keegan Bradley, Justin Thomas and Xander Schauffele.
What’s new: The skins game is moving from the California desert to South Florida and it will be broadcast on Prime Video instead of network TV.
It will be held at Panther National, a new course in Florida that opened two years ago and was designed by Thomas and Jack Nicklaus. Bradley, Schauffele and Thomas all live in the area.
The Skins Game, which began in 1983 with some of golf’s biggest stars, was last played in 2008 and won by K.J. Choi. It was the cornerstone of what once was known as the “silly season” in golf. It began in 1983 with Jack Nicklaus, Arnold Palmer, Tom Watson and Gary Player (Vin Scully was the announcer) and held over Thanksgiving weekend in the California desert.
The new Skins Game will have a similar format. A player wins the dollar amount for each hole, and it carries over if the hole is tied. The difference is a “reverse purse,” in which all four players start with $1 million and their fortunes rise or fall with every hole won or lost.
Coverage will start at 9 a.m., the start of a big Black Friday for Prime Video, which also will have an NFL game and an NBA doubleheader.
This is the second golf event for Prime, which last month announced it would stream two additional hours of weekday coverage at the Masters.
