Wendy's Skins Game Press Release

Aloha Kakou:

Following is the (rather lengthy!) text of the 2009 Wendy's Skins Game press release. The Outrigger Maui Eldorado will again be participating by offering a room from the comp fund for the game's use. The game is coordinated by the Kaanapali Beach Resort Association.


FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE November 30, 2008
Contact: Toby Zwikel/Brian Robin
Brener Zwikel & Associates, Inc., (818) 462-5599/5610

GREG NORMAN, BERNHARD LANGER JOIN FAMILIAR FIELD OF LEGENDS FOR 2009 WENDY’S CHAMPIONS SKINS GAME

Peter Jacobsen, Fuzzy Zoeller Return to Defend Their Title
In ESPN-Televised, $770,000 Alternate-Shot Team Event

KA’ANAPALI, Maui – It’s the event that provides golf fans that rare Golden Bear sighting, along with the not-so-rare sounds coming from the charismatic mouths of Fuzzy Zoeller and Peter Jacobsen. And now, the Wendy’s Champions SKINS GAME features another rare species in the golf world – a Shark sighting.

The 22nd edition of the Wendy’s Champions SKINS GAME returns to Royal Ka’anapali Golf Course on Jan. 17-18, 2009 with three of the game’s legendary figures: Jack Nicklaus, Tom Watson and Gary Player, along with Champions Tour mainstays Zoeller, Jacobsen and Jay Haas. Joining those six and making their Wendy’s Champions SKINS GAME debuts are Greg Norman and Bernhard Langer.

For the fourth consecutive year, the players will compete in the alternate-shot, team format that invariably creates tension, drama and memorable shotmaking. The players will play nine holes each day, with ESPN televising the Wendy’s Champions SKINS GAME on a tape-delayed basis Saturday, Feb. 28 and Sunday, March 1 from 4 p.m. – 6 p.m. ET, 1 p.m.—3 p.m. PT and 11 a.m.—1 p.m. HT. (Times vary in different areas; check your local listings).

Zoeller and Jacobsen return to the Royal Ka’anapali Golf Course at the Ka’anapali Beach Resort to defend their title against 2007 event champions Nicklaus and Watson, the only team to compete in all four alternate-shot events. Norman will join Haas, who returns for his third consecutive Wendy’s Champions SKINS GAME, while Langer teams with Player to form a dangerous international tandem.

“This is one of the best fields we have ever had in this event, and when you consider the legends who have played the Wendy’s Champions SKINS GAME over the years, that tells you something,” said Barry Frank, vice chairman of Trans World International (TWI). “The kind of years Bernhard and Jay enjoyed on the Champions Tour, the way Greg nearly won the British Open and the manner in which Fuzzy and Peter won last year’s event shows the depth of talent we are fortunate to have. And I haven’t mentioned Jack and Tom yet, both of whom prove every year in this event they can still play at a high level.”

Royal Ka’anapali is the fifth course to host the event, following the Wailea Resort’s Gold Course (seven years), Mauna Lani on the Big Island (11 years), the Mountain Course at the La Quinta Hotel Golf Club in La Quinta, Calif. and Turtle Bay Golf Club on Oahu (one year each).
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“We’re so excited to have the Wendy’s Champions Skins Game back at Kā‘anapali Beach Resort for the second year,” said Shelley Kekuna, Executive Director of the Kā‘anapali Beach Resort Association. “The 2008 event was awesome and many of the 11 properties within our resort have created packages and specials that make it very attractive for visitors to book their Maui trip during tournament time.”

Chip Bahouth, the president of the KBRA Board and the General Manager of the Sheraton Maui Resort & Spa, said “It’s an honor to be the host site for the Wendy’s Champions Skins Game and the excellent field of Champions that will be here in January. I can’t think of a better place in the world for this tournament than Kā‘anapali Beach Resort – people can easily walk from their hotel onto the golf course to watch the legends of golf compete.”

Those who enjoyed that luxury in 2008 watched Nicklaus and Watson pick up right where they left off in 2007, spotting Player and Loren Roberts the first skin, then winning the next eight skins and $270,000. That would be the high-water mark for the defending champions, who would get shut out on Day 2.

Zoeller and Jacobsen, meanwhile, wasted little time racking up the skins. They won the second hole and $80,000 with a par, the first time since 2004 that a par won a skin in the Wendy’s Champions SKINS GAME. They would go on to birdie Nos. 12-14, banking $140,000 and three skins for the final birdie in that string.

Player and Roberts got into the mix, picking up three skins and $150,000 with Roberts’ 20-foot birdie putt. After Nicklaus/Watson and Zoeller/Jacobsen halved the difficult 18th hole with pars, the players headed to extra holes for the 17th time in 21 years.

And for the first time in the Wendy’s Champions SKINS GAME, a second par won a skin in the same event. This came courtesy of Zoeller’s tap-in on the first playoff hole, which netted the duo the $100,000 Wendy’s Super Skin and their first victories in the event.

“That last hole was a bear. It’s a bear,” Zoeller said.

Zoeller and Jacobsen’s $320,000 haul came on only six skins, the first time since 2003 the winner pulled in fewer skins than their closest pursuer, which in this case, was Nicklaus/Watson and their eight skins and $270,000. The $320,000 winner’s take was the lowest winning total since Lee Trevino won that amount in 2003.

“Let’s face it. These guys in this thing are Hall-of-Famers,” Jacobsen said. “These are legends. Once we got past the resumes’ on the first nine holes, we kind of settled in.”

That’s the nature of the Wendy’s Champions SKINS GAME: legends with platinum resumes’ who find little difficulty summoning the elements that made them great. Pair them with fellow legends or current standouts and the golf is often a marvel to behold.

“You look at this field, what it’s accomplished over the years and what kind of impact it has had on all elements of the game of golf: from course design to playing ability to the magnetism and charisma they have on display for golf fans and it’s easy to realize what kind of a special group we have this year,” said Tony Renaud, vice president of new business for ESPN and the executive overseeing the Wendy’s Champions SKINS GAME.

The special nature of the group begins with Nicklaus, who owns many of the Wendy’s Champions SKINS GAME records.

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You can find Nicklaus’ name in the record book for most career skins (104), most career money ($2,430,000), most career front-nine skins (73), most money won on the front nine in an event ($270,000), most front-nine career money ($1,350,000) and most front-nine skins in a single event (eight). He has three event titles (1991, 2005 and 2007).

The winner of an unprecedented 20 major championships, including six Masters, five PGA Championships, four U.S. Opens, three British Opens and two U.S. Amateurs, Nicklaus has won 113 tournaments worldwide and is largely retired from competitive golf after a career in which he was named Golfer of the Century by GOLF Magazine in 1988 and by Golf Monthly U.K. in 1996. A five-time PGA TOUR Player of the Year, the PGA TOUR and Champions TOUR Player of the Year honors now bear his name.

In the Wendy’s Champions SKINS GAME, Watson is nearly as prolific. Once again partnering with Nicklaus, Watson will make his seventh appearance in the event. He captured titles in 2004 and with Nicklaus in 2007 and has to be considered a factor in 2008 based on his Champions Tour performance. Even at 59, Watson enjoyed another solid year, winning two events and banking nearly $1 million.

The Wendy’s Champions SKINS GAME proved the highlight of Jacobsen’s season. He played in only seven events in 2008 as he recovered from knee replacement surgery. The personable Jacobsen owns two Champions Tour titles, including the 2004 U.S. Senior Open.

The perfect partner for Jacobsen, the chatty Zoeller mirrored his teammate in that both were shut out in their Wendy’s Champions SKINS GAME debuts – Zoeller in 2003, Jacobsen in 2006 -- before breaking through in 2008. This season, Zoeller teamed with Sydney Burlison of Salinas, Calif., to win the pro-junior portion of the Wal-Mart First Tee Open at Pebble Beach by eight strokes. Zoeller’s T2 in the event was one of three top-10 finishes he enjoyed in 2008.

Regarding top-10 finishes, one of the most remarkable top-10 finishes in 2008 on any tour came from Norman, who makes his Wendy’s Champions SKINS GAME debut with Haas. The 53-year-old Norman took a two-shot lead into the final round of the British Open before a final-round 77 left him in a tie for third. That was Norman’s best showing in a major championship since he finished third at the 1999 Masters.

The following week, Norman finished T5 in the Senior British Open, joining the Senior PGA Championship (T6) and U.S. Senior Open (fourth) as one of Norman’s three top-six outings in a Champions Tour major.

For Haas, it was just another marvelous year in a Champions Tour career that is shaping up to be one of the best in the circuit’s history. Haas won multiple titles (two, including his second Senior PGA Championship in three years) for the fourth consecutive year, claimed his second Charles Schwab Cup in the last three years, finished second on the money list ($1,991,726) and had 14 top-10 finishes in 20 events. His 12-point Charles Schwab Cup edge over Langer was the closest finish in history.

Playing with Arnold Palmer in last year’s Wendy’s Champions SKINS GAME, Haas was blanked. He won six skins and $145,000 playing with Player in his 2007 event debut.

Player, meanwhile, continued to confound the aging process in 2008. The 72-year-old Player bettered his age twice and shot his age twice during a season in which he played in his 51st Masters, breaking Palmer’s record for most career appearances at Augusta National.

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One of five men who own the Career Grand Slam, Player also owns 108 victories worldwide and the status of winning the inaugural SKINS GAME in 1983. In last year’s Wendy’s Champions SKINS GAME, he and Roberts captured three skins and $180,000. In 2009, Player is making his 10th appearance in the event.

Joining Player is Langer, who earned his place at Royal Ka’anapali in 2009 with a remarkable 2008 season in which Langer won three times, won the Arnold Palmer Award as the Champions Tour's leading money winner with $2,035,073 and claimed the Byron Nelson Award as the scoring leader by one one-hundredth of a shot (69.65 to 69.66) over Haas. Langer was the only player to crack the $2 million mark in season earnings and tied Haas with 14 top-10 finishes, one behind tour leader John Cook.

In the Wendy’s Champions SKINS GAME, each hole is a tournament within itself, with the prize money carried over if no player wins a hole outright. The $770,000 total purse is broken down to $30,000 for each of the first six holes, $40,000 for each of the middle six holes, $50,000 each for holes 13 through 17, and $100,000 for the 18th hole.

The players will donate 10 percent of their winnings to charity – 5 percent to the Dave Thomas Foundation for Adoption and 5 percent to the charity of their choice.

About Wendy’s Restaurants
Wendy's Old Fashioned Hamburgers Restaurants was founded in 1969 by Dave Thomas and is the third largest quick-service hamburger restaurant chain in the world, with more than 6,250 restaurants in the United States, Canada and international markets.

About ESPN Regional Television
ESPN Regional Television (ERT) is the nation’s largest producer and distributor of collegiate sports programming, producing more than 1,000 sporting events per year. In addition to event sponsorship, ERT produces 800 events for national, regional and local networks, serves as the exclusive syndication rights-holder for college conferences (Big 12, Big Ten and BIG EAST) and exclusive marketing rights-holder for select schools (Kansas, Oregon, South Florida and Iowa State). In recent years, ESPN, Inc. has created or acquired events it owns, markets and televises to increase its value to advertisers and affiliates.

About Ka’anapali
Located on Maui, along one of the most stunning coastlines in the world, Ka’anapali is rich in history and tradition. From the shores of Ka'anapali, the neighbor Islands of Lana'i and Moloka'i are in clear view. The slopes of Mauna Kahalawai, the West Maui Mountains, serve as the dramatic backdrop for this luxury, 1,200-acre resort destination which was once a warrior training ground and the playground for Hawai'i's royalty. As the state’s first planned resort, Ka’anapali established a pinnacle for other destinations on the islands to strive to attain over the years. Ka'anapali Resort is set beside three miles of white sand beach and is home to Maui's only oceanfront shopping Center, 11 hotels and condominiums, three world-class spas, two golf courses and over 40 restaurants.

Recognized as the playground of the Pacific, over a half a million visitors choose to visit Ka'anapali annually.

The Royal Ka’anapali Course, a Robert Trent Jones Senior design, opened in 1962 and has tested the skills of golf professionals and amateurs alike. A Par 71 stretching 6700 yards, the Royal Course combines wide fairways and undulating greens, making it both distinctive and demanding.

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Home of the Champions Tour Ka’anapali Classic for 14 years, the Royal Ka’anapali Course also hosted Shell’s Wonderful World of Golf, the Canada Cup and LPGA Kemper Open, donning such golfing greats as Jack Nicklaus, Arnold Palmer, Gary Player, Chi Chi Rodriguez, Jan Stephenson and Betsey King. Over the last three years, Ka’anapali Golf Resort has invested over $13 million in renovations and infrastructure. Golf course architect, Robin Nelson, was brought in to oversee the rework of the Ka’anapali Kai Course and “nip/tuck” enhancements to the championship Royal Ka’anapali Course.
For more information about Ka’anapali Beach Resort visit www.Ka’anapaliresort.com and Ka’anapali Golf Resort visit www.Ka’anapaligolfresort.com or call (808) 661-3271.

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