Couples gets 4th Skins Game title

<p>LA QUINTA, Calif. - Annika Sorenstam earned $225,000 and a whole lot of respect with a second-place finish in the otherwise all-male Skins Game.</p><p>Fred Couples, the grand master of the skins format, won the event for a record fourth time. He collected all but $25,000 of his $605,000 Sunday, the final day of the 18-hole, made-for-television event.</p><p>"I think she played terrific golf," Couples said. "I certainly didn't play better than Annika. I just made a few more putts and a couple of lucky shots."</p><p>Phil Mickelson was third with $170,000. Mark O'Meara won nothing, one year after earning $405,000 to take the title.</p><p>"I've played with a lot of fine players," O'Meara said, "and I'd have to put Annika at the top of the list."</p><p>Couples won eight skins - seven Sunday. Sorenstam and Mickelson had five apiece.</p><p><li><b>NEDBANK GOLF CHALLENGE</b>: Sergio Garcia made a 15-foot birdie putt to beat Retief Goosen on the first playoff hole at the Nedbank Golf Challenge from Sun City, South Africa.</p><p>It is Garcia's first victory of 2003; his best performance this season had been a tie for fourth place in the Buick Classic.</p><p>Garcia and Goosen finished the four rounds on the Gary Player Country Club at 14- under-par 274.</p><p></p>