Greg Norman was the first professional golfer to surpass $10 million in career earnings.
Over his career, he collected more than $17 million, with most of it coming from PGA Tour events. Even after he finished playing, Norman stayed heavily involved in the sport, including his role as LIV Golf CEO.
But Greg Norman once earned more money for a single hole than he did in prize money for any other event.
And it all happened because of a rule change at an event that was quickly scrapped.
How Greg Norman once earned $800,000 on a single hole
The Skins Game, which first appeared in 1983, brought together top players to compete for cash prizes over 18 holes.
Each hole was worth a set amount of money, known as a “skin.” To win the skin, a player had to have the lowest score on that hole. If two or more players tied, the skin would carry over to the next hole.
Gary Player won $170,000 at that first event, going up against Jack Nicklaus, Arnold Palmer and Tom Watson. Palmer took home $100,000 from one hole alone – more than he had ever earned in any other event during his career. The prize money kept increasing in the years that followed.
But in 2001, a new rule called “validation” made it much harder to earn skins. Under this rule, if you won a skin on one hole, you then had to tie or win the next hole to actually collect the money. Few managed it.
Playing alongside Colin Montgomerie, Fred Couples and Jesper Parnevik, Norman became the only player under these rules to pull it off. He won the 17th and tied the 18th hole to secure an $800,000 payout – still the largest single-hole payout in Skins Game history.
The huge total came about because no one had been able to claim skins earlier in the round due to how difficult it was under validation rules. Norman finished with $1 million overall before organisers ditched validation soon after.
Skins Game returns in 2025 with new rule tweak
The Skins Game is making a comeback after 15 years, and there’s a fresh format for 2025. Some of the sport’s top players will be taking part, and the structure looks different from previous editions.
This time around, Tommy Fleetwood, Keegan Bradley, Justin Thomas, and Xander Schauffele will line up at Panther National shortly after the Ryder Cup at Bethpage Black.
The format has been adjusted again. Instead of playing for single skins, each player now starts with $1 million. Their total will rise or fall depending on the outcome of each hole.
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It adds another layer to the event. Every hole now comes with financial risk as well as reward – not just an opportunity to win money but also a reason to avoid losing it.
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