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 97,800 U.S. dollars 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."

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 U.S. 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 10,000 dollars or 100,000 dollars on the line. It's pride."

(Agencies via Shanghai Daily June 18, 2008)