Forgotten O'Meara walks off with the most loot

INDIO, Calif. (AP) _ Every now and then, Mark O'Meara can still get the best of Tiger Woods. Far more frequently, someone with a camera gets to Woods. O'Meara won the Skins

Sunday, December 1st 2002, 12:00 am

By: News On 6

INDIO, Calif. (AP) _ Every now and then, Mark O'Meara can still get the best of Tiger Woods.

Far more frequently, someone with a camera gets to Woods.

O'Meara won the Skins Game for his first victory of any kind in four years. He collected three skins worth $210,000 with a 2-foot birdie putt on the 15th hole, and secured the title Sunday with a 20-foot birdie putt on the 17th.

``It's been a while since I won anything,'' said O'Meara, whose last victory came in the '98 Skins Game. That was the year he held off Woods to win the British Open and also beat Woods in the final of the World Match Play Championship in England.

The birdie on the 17th gave O'Meara eight skins and $405,000 over two days, and removed all the suspense from the final hole _ a single skin worth $200,000.

No suspense, but plenty of action.

Woods needed to get up-and-down for birdie from a back bunker on the par-5 18th to keep Phil Mickelson from capturing the final skin. A man standing directly behind Woods clicked his camera in the middle of his swing, and Woods looked back in disgust as his ball rolled 15 feet by the hole.

``I flinched,'' Woods said. ``I was lucky to keep the ball on the green.''

Caddie Steve Williams took the man's camera and dropped it in the lake.

Woods hasn't had much luck with cameras this year. There was a bitter exchange with a photographer on the first hole of the British Open, and an early click cost Woods a chance of going bogey-free over 72 holes when he won the World Golf Championship in Ireland.

On Sunday, Woods still had a birdie putt to force a playoff, but the ball slid by on the right, and Mickelson won the $200,000 skin with a two-putt birdie from 30 feet.

Mickelson, in danger of being shut out on the final day, wound up in second place with three skins and $300,000.

``I appreciate the generosity of the other three players,'' Lefty said.

Fred Couples, who played better than anyone Sunday but claimed only two skins, wound up with $170,000. Woods was last with $125,000, winning his only skin on the opening hole with an 18-foot eagle putt. He finished with four skins over two days.

``That's better than I usually do,'' Woods said. He had won only five skins in his previous three Skins Games combined.

O'Meara was a forgotten man in the Skins Game _ until he walked off with the most skins and the most money, winning for the second time in four appearances

He got into the Conagra Foods Skins Game primarily through his endorsement contract with Toyota, one of the tournament sponsors. And he made the most of it.

O'Meara doesn't hit it as long as the other three, not by a mile. But he's one of the best putters in golf, and the Skins Game rewards good timing as much as anything.

O'Meara twice claimed three skins on par 3s, both times tapping in from 2 feet. He also won a single skin worth $50,000 on No. 12 with a wedge into 4 inches.

``I don't have the length like Tiger and Phil. That was very evident out there,'' O'Meara said. ``But it's still nerve-racking to stand over a putt worth $200,000.''

That was the turning point of the Skins Game.

Everyone made par on No. 13 _ the only hole Sunday on which no one made birdie _ and O'Meara made a 3-foot birdie on the 14th to make the next hole worth three skins and $210,000, enough for the winner to take a commanding lead.

O'Meara hit 6-iron from 165 yards into about 2 feet, and won the three skins when Couples missed a 10-foot birdie putt.

Couples missed a 12-foot birdie putt on the 17th _ he had seven birdie putts inside 15 feet Sunday _ that could have turned the 18th hole into winner-take-all.

``It's a letdown for a second, and then you know that No. 18 is worth a lot of money,'' Couples said. ``Whether it's for $50,000 or $200,000, the idea is to win a skin.''

O'Meara did so with a few timely shots. It was particularly gratifying, even for a silly season event, because O'Meara had not won anything in four years _ and because of the field.

``They're not going to lie down for you,'' O'Meara said. ``And you know Tiger. He does not like losing at anything.''

Divots: O'Meara made nine birdies over two days, tying the Skins Game record set by Couples in 1999. ... Woods' eagle on the 10th hole marked the first time in Skins Game history that eagles won back-to-back holes. Couples finished the first day by making an eagle on No. 9 ... Each player is donating 20 percent of his earnings to charity.