Shanghai Daily | 上海日报 -- English Window to China News

GREG Norman isn't playing as much golf as he used to these days, but he showed he can still make a big shot during the first day of the World Skins Game in Vernon, British Columbia.

Norman rolled in an 18-foot eagle putt on the par-5 eighth hole to win US$97,800 on Monday, taking the first-day lead.

"When you win a skins it's great. You can play average golf and win and you can play great golf and not win," said Norman, who used a 5 iron to hit it close from 211 yards after a big drive on the downhill, 556-yard hole. "But I had the opportunity and I took advantage of it."

Fred Couples, making his ninth appearance in the Canadian event, lived up to his reputation as "King of the Skins" with a 60-foot putt worth two skins on the second hole.

"It's always good to take something home," said Couples after adding US$29,340 to more than US$5 million in career Skins Game winnings on both side of the border.

Canadian Mike Weir, Columbia's Camilo Villegas and Scotland's Colin Montgomerie were all shut out after nine holes at the Predator Ridge Golf Course, located about 450 kilometers northeast of Vancouver.

Weir is the clear favorite, playing his first Skins Game in his home country in seven years, but for Weir and Villegas, the relaxed, playful atmosphere was a nice change of pace after both players finished in the top-20 at the US Open.

Norman, the two-time British Open champion and former world No. 1, has only played five events this season, and just three times since knee surgery in February. Recently, he committed to the British Open, British Senior Open and US Senior Open.

"I'm starting to get ready for July," Norman said. "When you come out here, yes it's a happy-go-lucky, fun event, but when we have to make a putt or hit a shot, we're all trying to make that putt and hit that shot, I don't care whether there's US$10,000 or US$100,000 on the line. It's pride."