By Anam Arsalan, TravelGolf.com Staff Writer

Gurgaon, New Delhi, (Nov. 15, 2004) – "Skins event, I enjoy playing it," young Justin Rose had said on Saturday evening at the DLF Golf Course. Only a few hours later his putter made sure that he enjoyed every bit of his golf. The Briton won as many as seven holes to take home the glittering winners trophy and a cash award of $42,500 at the Bilt Skins 2004 golf tournament.

However, it wasn’t Rose who led from the start. Crowd favorite Vijay Singh started off in spectacular fashion, hitting a birdie amidst thousands of cheering spectators on the very first hole to pocket $2,500, leaving the others - Todd Hamilton, Daniel Chopra and Rose
- wondering if they stood any chance against the number one pro.

But 24-year-old Rose had other plans. He struck back, claiming the par 3 third and par 4 fourth to pocket an easy $5000. Then there was no looking back for Rose, as he started raining birdies on the fast greens, which helped his style of play. Soon he upped his prize money on the leaderboard to $8,500 by hitting a birdie on the par five fifth hole and claiming the skin.

Now it was time for the USPGA champion to show that he was still the best when it came to hitting long tee shots and the 538-yard par 5 sixth hole brought out this very feature in him, for while Rose just about managed to birdie here, Vijay went a step further and struck a superlative eagle to increase his tally to $6000.

By now it was clear that Rose’s only competition would be Vijay Singh as the other two in the fray, Daniel Chopra and Todd Hamilton, looked completely off-color. To make matters worse, Chopra’s tee shot on the seventh hole hit the rough and then it landed in the bunker, ultimately turning out to be a bogey. Hamilton too struck a bogey here. The only consolation for them was that there was no skin scored on this hole. But this could not halt Rose from continuing with his fine game. Soon he went on to claim skins on the
8th, 12th, 13 and the 15 hole to finish off with $42,500 on the board.

Chopra too struck some form and claimed the par three 11th hole with a birdie and par 4
17th hole with an eagle, finishing with $35,500, while Hamilton had to walk back empty handed. The American did get a golden opportunity to open his account on the par 5
14th hole, but on the day luck just didn’t seem to come his way, the ball made an arch on the hole mouth but refused to roll in and he missed the birdie by centimeters.

Even Vijay had his share of bad luck or probably he was just uncomfortable playing in front of a huge fan following or maybe those occasional ring-ting-a-tings of the mobile phones (they were there despite strict restraining orders) got the better of him and he just lofted the ball into the water on the 11th hole when Chopra had just opened his account.

But like the earlier event in 2002, the 18th hole was meant to be won by Vijay Singh and he did it in identical fashion when a tie ensured that the players tee off again and Vijay claimed the skin with an eagle to finish off with $22,000.

An ecstatic Rose said, "It could have been anybody’s game but I was feeling very confident and comfortable, so you can say that it was my day today. It was fun playing against the big names in the circuit."

Unlike Rose who was enjoying his game Hamilton had money on his mind, as was evident from what he said after the event. "I started off badly initially but I knew that the last few holes carried a big purse, so I raised my game towards the end."

And how did the number one golfer feel when he was beaten in the skins game by Rose?
"Oh, I am really sad!" He exclaimed with a little pun in his voice and added, "a skins game is like a good movie, and today’s hero was Justin." He however did feel bad about Todd Hamilton. "He did not make the putts he was supposed to and that’s why he lost."

Hamilton summed up saying, "Golf is very much like life. If you don’t perform in life you are not rewarded, similarly if you don’t perform in golf you are not rewarded."