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Jason Day was the big winner in the four-man skins game featuring Tiger Woods in Japan on Monday, where the overall vibe of The Challenge: Japan Skins was like a weekend game among friends.
Along with Rory McIlroy and Hideki Matsuyama, the event was driven by Woods as part of his endorsement deal with GolfTV, which streamed the competition at Accordia Golf Narashino Country Club, where the PGA Tour’s inaugural Zozo Championship will begin on Thursday.
There was plenty of chatter, some highlights and some lowlights and just enough drama at the end as the players finished under the lights
Day won the 17th and 18th holes – the finishing hole was worth $100,000 – to walk away with six skins and a total of $210,000. Woods, who left a 10-foot birdie putt short on the final green that would have forced an extra hole, finished with six skins and $60,000
McIlroy won five skins and $60,000 while Matsuyama finished with a single skin and $20,000.
Woods, who had played in six previous televised skins competition, has never walked away the winner.
“He hasn't won one yet, so I've got that on him, which is good,” Day said. “But this is nice, the back and forth was great. I think it was nice and clean, it was within the game and I think a lot of guys had fun out there.”
Woods, who was making his first competitive foray since the BMW Championship in August, got better as the round went on. He was playing in public for the first time since having an arthroscopic procedure on his knee and he left open the possibility of adding himself as a playing member on the U.S. Presidents Cup team he will captain in Australia in December.
“It made me more hopeful that I could do all of the above, play this week, play (the) Hero (World Challenge) and play Australia,” Woods said. “The way I was feeling towards the middle part of the year, it was going to be a tall order to be able to do it all. Started to struggle with it, it started affecting my back and the way I was walking and trying to play, trying to read putts and all of the above.
“So I'm excited about having this end-of-the-year run where I'm feeling much more fit and I don't have the achiness that I've been dealing with for the last couple years.”
Staff and Wire Reports