K.J. Choi wins Skins Game, takes home $415,000
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Associated Press - Published: December 1, 2008
INDIAN WELLS, Calif. — K.J. Choi holed an 11-foot birdie putt worth $270,000 on the 18th hole Sunday to win the 26th Skins Game with $415,000.
Stephen Ames missed a nine-footer that would have tied the hole and forced the foursome including Phil Mickelson and Rocco Mediate into a playoff.
Instead, Choi's putt gave him $340,000 for Sunday's nine holes and made him the fifth international player to win the title.
"I'm very proud to have won the Skins Game, the first time ever for a Korean player," said Choi, who said he watched the Skins Game and the Masters growing up in South Korea. "I'm very, very happy today."
Stephen Ames, looking for a third consecutive title in the event, won $250,000 on the first hole of the day with a birdie to finish second. Mickelson was third with $195,000, while Mediate earned his $140,000 with a birdie on the 16th hole.
It is just the seventh time that all four players in the event have won money.
"I thought it was a good day. Everyone was able to win a skin today," Mickelson said. "It was a fun few days. We all would have liked to have gotten the last skin. I just didn't make the putts. I though Stephen and I each had putts to carry over some skins."
Choi started the day with the lead and proceeded to add $70,000 with a four-foot eagle putt on the 14th hole.
World Cup of Golf
SHENZHEN, China — Henrik Stenson of Sweden knew the contending teams in the World Cup of Golf had their "hot rounds" during the tournament. He hoped the Swedes would have their moment on Sunday.
They did.
Robert Karlsson and Stenson birdied the first hole — and added eight more without dropping a shot — to lift Sweden to its second World Cup title, shooting a 9-under 63 in alternate-shot play to beat Spain's Miguel Angel Jimenez and Pablo Larrazabal by three strokes.
Karlsson and Stenson, four strokes behind the Spaniards after the third round, finished at 27-under 261 on Mission Hills' Olazabal Course.
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