Skins Game Takes TV Timeout : Senior golf: Officials call slow-playing foursome off course after seven halved holes. Entire $450,000 still on the table.

It has been said the Skins Game is a golf event strictly for television.

The point was made clear Saturday in the first round of the third Senior Skins Game at Mauna Lani Resorts. After seven holes of the equivalent of a scoreless tie, play was postponed.

A thunderstorm did not cause a halt, nor did a volcanic eruption. Television did. Because of a commitment to local affiliates news shows, NBC stopped play.

This morning, Jack Nicklaus, Lee Trevino, Gary Player and Arnold Palmer will be competing for all of the $450,000 in the last 11 holes. Mainly because Trevino sank clutch putts of eight feet and 12 feet, there wasn’t a winner through seven holes. The golfers will start on the 140-yard, par-3 eighth hole today, playing for $140,000.

If someone had won on the sixth or seventh, there would have been no problem. But according to Barry Frank--co-producer with Don Ohlmeyer of the show--with $140,000 to be won on a single hole, they had to stop play.

The crowd, estimated at 4,000, booed when, after a long delay, the decision was announced. Part of the blame for the inability to play nine holes in the allotted two hours, was because of poor crowd control. Because of the long distance from green to tee, the fans often impeded the golfers between holes.

The four golfers, who realize that TV controls the event, did not object to the postponement.

“It will make for an exciting start (today), with $140,000 at stake,” Trevino said. “As long as we just keep on playing and don’t stop after playing eight and nine, it will be fine.”

Trevino had said that making a putt to prevent someone from winning a hole put the most pressure on him. Both times, his putts prevented Nicklaus from winning skins. On the 416-yard, par-4 third hole, after Nicklaus rammed in a 22-foot putt for a birdie, Trevino halved the hole. It happened again on the seventh with $115,000 at stake.

“Both of them were my favorite putts,” Trevino said. “They were downhill putts with a slight break to the right. I thought the putt on three might win the hole. I thought Jack had hit his too hard, but it banged against the back of the cup and went in.”

Nicklaus didn’t seem upset because Trevino had taken away two skins. Instead, he marveled at Trevino’s ability.

“I think it’s just great golf,” said Nicklaus, competing in his first event as a senior. “That’s what this game’s all about. I mean, I wouldn’t have minded if he had missed one, but I give him credit for great putting.”

There isn’t much of anything bothering Nicklaus these days.

His back has been a bother in recent years, but exercise appears to have solved the problem.

“I can’t believe how good I feel,” he said. “I can hit shots I was afraid to try for several years.”

An example was his two-iron second shot on the 510-yard sixth hole. Nicklaus cut the corner on his drive and had 211 yards to the hole.

“It was a downhill, sidehill lie,” Nicklaus said. “Until my back stopped hurting, I had not been able to make that shot. I went through the green on the fringe. My putt for an eagle was about 20 feet downhill. I read it to break right. It broke 1 1/2 inches left.”

Although Nicklaus came close to winning two skins, others also had opportunities. Trevino and Player missed short birdie putts on the 130-yard fifth hole.

Palmer’s best chance was on the 419-yard fourth. While the others had trouble, he was down the middle of the fairway, but he left himself a 25-foot putt for the birdie. Let him describe the hole:

“Jack hit into the rocks, Lee was behind a tree, Gary was in the sand, and Arnie missed the putt.”

The format for the skins game makes each of the first six holes worth $15,000, the next six $25,000 and the last six $35,000. To win a skin, a player must win the hole outright.

On most of the first seven holes, it seemed likely that someone would break through. Instead, the suspense continued to mount. That’s why the fans were upset when the round was not completed.

“This is the 10th skins game (seven on the regular tour),” Frank said. “We feel terrible about the fans, but all tickets will be honored (today).

“This is the first time we ran out of TV time when no hole had been won. With that much money, we had to call a halt. We will start earlier tomorrow. If someone wins the eighth or ninth, we will show the hole in its entirety at the start of the telecast. Otherwise, we will just show the highlights.”

Originally, less than 3,000 fans were expected. But, in addition to tickets sold, Mauna Lani gave two tickets to each hotel guest and five to each owner of the condominiums on the grounds.

The overflow crowd and the narrow pathways from green to tee slowed play from the start. There was also a long television break on the second hole.

After it was decided to stop play with $140,000 at stake, Trevino turned to his peers and quipped, “Anybody want to play in for a twenty?”