Tiger chips in winner in Memorial Skins Game

DUBLIN, Ohio – Tiger Woods sank a 25-yard chip shot from the rough on the final hole Wednesday to win the Memorial Skins Game after his practice round with fellow legend Jack Nicklaus in nine years.

On the eve of his final tuneup for the US Open, world number one Woods holed the shot to capture a “closest to the pin” chipping contest at Muirfield Village, the home course for Nicklaus, the all-time major win leader with 18.

“Didn’t surprise me,” Nicklaus said. “Didn’t surprise him.”

Woods, whose 14 major titles rank second only to boyhood idol Nicklaus, will be among the favorites at the Memorial and Nicklaus said he thinks Woods will break his record by 2012.

“I think the pace he has and the quality of player that he is, even if he doesn’t play well I think he’ll probably still break my record. But he still has to do that,” Woods said.

“I would suspect that he is such a focused young man and his work ethic is so good, that I would suspect he will pass it. He will probably in the next three years. He’ll probably do that.

“But, if it’s the next three years, that’s fine with me. Then he can get it over with, and I can go shake his hand. And I don’t have to worry about where I’m going to travel to to shake his hand.”

Nicklaus, 69, won two skins with a four-foot birdie putt on the par-5 11th, using an eight-iron to set up the shot. (AP)