Nicklaus Set to Defend Title this Weekend at
2008 Wendy’s Champions Skins Game

KA’ANAPALI, Maui – There’s a new venue that promises to feature much of the old dramatics you’d expect from a field that features Jack Nicklaus, Tom Watson, Arnold Palmer and Gary Player, along with Jay Haas, Loren Roberts, Fuzzy Zoeller and Peter Jacobsen. And with Nicklaus and Watson as the defending champions of the Wendy’s Champions SKINS GAME, drama and the legends of the game should play as big a role in the proceedings as they have in the past.

The 21st edition of the Wendy’s Champions SKINS GAME moves to the stunning Royal Ka’anapali Golf Course Feb. 23-24, 2008. For the third consecutive year, the players will compete in the alternate-shot, team format that lends itself to drama and spectacular shots. The players will play nine holes each day, with ESPN televising the Wendy’s Champions SKINS GAME on a same-day, tape-delayed basis Saturday, Feb. 23 and Sunday, Feb. 24.

Nicklaus and Watson return to defend the title they captured in spectacular fashion in 2007. Waiting for them are the tandems of Palmer and new partner Haas, Roberts and Player and Zoeller and Jacobsen.

Royal Ka’anapali becomes the fifth course to host the event, which ended a seven-year stay at the Wailea Resort’s Gold Course. That followed 11 years at Mauna Lani on the Big Island of Hawaii. The inaugural match was played in 1988 at Turtle Bay Golf Club on Oahu, and the second in 1989 at the Mountain Course at the La Quinta Hotel Golf Club in La Quinta, CA.

“We are very excited about having the Champions Tour back at Ka’anapali,” said Ka’anapali Golf Resort General Manager Ed Kageyama. “With over 45 years of tournament history and the recent renovations here within the resort, Ka’anapali is the perfect championship venue for these golf legends to again test their skills on our course.”

“Not that anyone should be surprised by this, but last year, you saw what kind of golfing magic Jack Nicklaus is capable of summoning in this format,” said Tony Renaud, vice president of new business for ESPN and the executive overseeing the Wendy’s Champions SKINS GAME. “We know that the showcase that is Royal Ka’anapali, these players and this format will produce another thrilling finish.”

Nicklaus’ name is all over the Wendy’s Champions SKINS GAME record books. He has 96 skins in his remarkable career, nearly 30 more than runner-up Floyd. Nicklaus’ career money total jumped to $2,295,000 -- $380,000 ahead of closest pursuer Floyd. His seven front-nine skins vaulted his career total to 65. And, for good measure, Nicklaus’ front-nine skins money total jumped another $120,000 to $1,513,000, more than $1 million ahead of Floyd.

The winner of an unprecedented 20 major championships, including six Masters, five PGA Championships, four U.S. Opens, three British Opens and two U.S. Amateurs, Nicklaus has won 113 tournaments worldwide and is largely retired from competitive golf after a career in which he was named Golfer of the Century by GOLF Magazine in 1988 and by Golf Monthly U.K. in 1996. A five-time PGA TOUR Player of the Year, the PGA TOUR and Champions TOUR Player of the Year honors now bear his name.