For a lot more money, Fred Couples would be really friendly with golf fans.
Give him the $87.5 million the New York Yankees are paying Bernie Williams over seven years and Couples would walk outside the ropes, smile and wave in between shots."I'd go to tournaments and hold hands," he said Friday.
Instead, Couples, Greg Norman, defending champion Tom Lehman and Mark O'Meara have to settle for the $1 million at stake in the Skins Game beginning Saturday at Rancho La Quinta Country Club.
This year, Couples has earned more than $1.6 million, a career best, with two victories in 17 tournaments. He played a limited schedule that allowed him to rest an ailing back.
"I feel like I had a great, great year," he said. "In other sports, it's peanuts. It's ridiculous an owner can pay somebody $90 million for seven years."
Couples figures it costs him thousands of dollars to travel to the Masters and the British Open.
"You've already spent $12,000 or $20,000 before you even hit a first putt and everyone wants you to smile and have a good time," he said.
So Couples is very happy to see the PGA Tour boosting prize money to $131 million in 1999, an increase of $35 million.
"Golf has really taken off," he said. "I honestly think that we deserve it."
Couples, in his 17th year on Tour, recalled Jack Nicklaus and Arnold Palmer earning less than $100,000 a year when they ruled golf.
"I've got to be honest, if I played 18 or 19 years and averaged $200,000 or $300,000 or $400,000 a year, I think it would be a long, long career," he said.
The Skins Game, in its 16th year, is the richest ever. This year's purse is up 67 percent over the $600,000 offered last year when Lehman won 10 skins worth $300,000 to set a Skins rookie record.
"It was pretty amazing (what Lehman did)," said O'Meara, who won five skins and $240,000 to finish second last year. "That's probably going to happen this year. You've got to make a lot of birdies and make them at the right time."
Lehman had six birdies in shooting an unofficial 61 in the 18-hole tournament played over two days.