Couples makes senior debut in a Skins game

JACKSONVILLE, Florida (AP) -Having turned 50 last month, Fred Couples will make his Champions Tour debut in the Champions Skins Game in Hawaii in January.

The "King of the Skins" will join a Hall of Fame cast including Jack Nicklaus, Tom Watson, Gary Player, Ben Crenshaw and Nick Price from Jan. 16-17.

While the original Skins Game this week has been canceled, the 50-and-older version lives on in paradise at Royal Kaanapali. The total purse is $770,000, and it features two-man teams playing alternate shot.

Couples turned the Skins Game into an annuity. He played 14 times and earned $4.183 million. In 585 official events on the U.S. PGA Tour, he made $21.319 million.

"I could not think of a better way for me, personally, to start on the Champions Tour than to play in this format and have the chance to hang out with this group of players," said Couples, who will be paired with Price.

Fuzzy Zoeller and Crenshaw will try to become the first team to repeat in the Champions Skins Game, and Zoeller will be going for his third straight title; he played with Peter Jacobsen in 2007.

Nicklaus and Watson will be teammates again, and the fourth team is Gary Player and Loren Roberts.