ADT Skills Challenge features young stars, airs this weekend

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NEW YORK --- The "Reverse Scramble," will be back on national television when the 2010 ADT Skills Challenge airs on NBC Saturday and Sunday, Jan. 1 and 2. Scheduled from 4-6 p.m. in all time zones (check local listings) both days, it is the only golf on network television this weekend.

Four teams -- Rickie Fowler/Scott Verplank, Mark O'Meara/Nick Price, Ricky Barnes/Wayne Gretzky and Fred Couples/Dustin Johnson -- will square off in the traditional, situational shotmaking competition with $800,000 in prize money at stake. For the second time, the 19th annual event will include a culminating, single-hole competition played in a "Reverse Scramble" format.

Contrary to the traditional "Scramble" format, the rules of the "Reverse Scramble" call for the opposing team to select which shot its rival twosome must play, adding a new dimension to the competition. The format is especially conducive to the ADT Skills Challenge TV production approach, which showcases the personalities of the players, all of whom are equipped with microphones throughout. The event was taped in November at The Breakers in Palm Beach, Fla.

The six mainstay skills -- Long Drive, Mid-Iron, Bunker Shot, Chip Shot, Trouble Shot and Short Iron -- will be followed by the "Reverse Scramble." The top four teams will be seeded according to prize money won in those six skills and they will play the 10th hole at The Breakers' Ocean Course in Palm Beach, FL. The two surviving teams will then compete in another one-hole "Reverse Scramble" for the weighted sum of $200,000 in prize money.

"The Reverse Scramble is a terrific format," said Brandt Snedeker, who won the 2009 event with partner Boo Weekley. "If you don't hit a good shot, you let yourself down and you really let your partner down, because then he has to deal with it. It's funny because, this way, playing the worse shot, it's like we're handicap golfers again."

"I wouldn't want to play a whole round like that but it was definitely interesting," said Johnson. "It was the first time I ever did that (played the reverse scramble). You really have to hit good golf shots. If you or your partner hits a bad one, that's the one you're playing."

"The structure of our event allows for an innovative addition like the 'Reverse Scramble,'" offered Jon Miller, Executive Vice President of NBC Sports, which owns and operates the event. "The home TV audience will be in on the golfers' strategy banter and then be able to see the result."

On Saturday, the ADT Skills Challenge will follow the Bridgestone NHL Winter Classic (1-4 p.m. ET), on NBC. The 19th annual ADT Skills Challenge is the second-longest running PGA TOUR Challenge Season competition behind The Shark Shootout.

Verplank, Price, O'Meara and Couples are the veterans with 115 years of combined PGA TOUR experience and more than 50 combined PGA TOUR wins. Johnson, Fowler and Barnes are top-flight players, still in their 20s, who are now challenging the biggest names in golf for stature and prize money.

Gretzky is an accomplished golfer, the celebrity host of the Ford Wayne Gretzky Classic (Nationwide Tour) and the consensus greatest player in the history of the sport of hockey.