The field at the Wendy's Champions Skins Game will double from four to eight when the tournament changes to an alternate-shot team event next year.

The 19th Champions Skins game is scheduled for Feb. 6 at Wailea (Maui) Resorts Gold Course.

Jack Nicklaus, the defending champion, will be paired with Tom Watson. Other teams include Gary Player and Hale Irwin, Arnold Palmer and Peter Jacobsen and Raymond Floyd and Dana Quigley. The made-for-TV event will be broadcast on ESPN.

In the skins game format, each hole is worth prize money, if no one wins a hole outright, the money is carried over to the next hole. The $770,000 total purse is broken down to $30,000 each for the first six holes, $40,000 for the middle six holes, $50,000 for holes 13 to 17 and $100,000 for the 18th hole.

Players donate 10 percent of their winnings to charity.

ROOKIE FUNK COLLECTS $925,000 IN SKINS GAME

LA QUINTA, Calif. — What a Skins Game it was for Fred Funk, who went from wearing a pink skirt on the third hole to walking away with nearly all the money.

"Wow," Funk said in disbelief yesterday on the 18th green, where he'd just won the final $550,000 and six skins, for a total of $925,000 and 15 skins in his first try.

Funk had a two-putt birdie on the par-5 18th, then clinched the record-setting victory when Tiger Woods missed an 8-foot birdie putt.

The 49-year-old Funk became the oldest Skins Game winner, and took all $700,000 available yesterday.

Funk won $775,000 and 12 skins on two par-5s. The $925,000 and 15 skins were records for a rookie. Woods won three skins and $75,000.

Before the made-for-TV tournament, Woods told Funk he'd never live it down if Annika Sorenstam outdrove him on even one hole. It happened on the third hole Saturday, and Funk pulled a pink skirt over his pants and finished the hole.

Fred Couples, the King of Skins, was shut out for the first time in 12 appearances. Sorenstam also didn't win a skin.

ELSEWHERE

Casio World Open: Toru Taniguchi of Japan shot a 3-under 69 and finished at 11-under 277 to win his first title of the year with a two-stroke victory over Kim Jong Duck of South Korea at Kochi, Japan. Hawai'i's Gregory Meyer finished with a 75—296. Hawai'i's Michelle Wie missed the cut by a stroke earlier in the tournament.

Australian Open: Robert Allenby played through a painful finger injury to win yesterday, shooting a 5-over 77 in windy conditions to hold off Australian countrymen John Senden, Nick O'Hern and Paul Sheehan by a stroke at Fingal, Australia.