LA QUINTA, Calif. — The Skins Game isn't your normal quiet, polite pro golf event.

Fred Couples used a wedge for a tap-in, which he missed. Fred Funk switched John Daly's ball on the green, replacing it with a remote-controlled ball that lurched back and forth. Daly, wearing a flame-decorated cap that made him look like a NASCAR driver, invited Fred Funk to hit off the tee at the time he did.

By the end of the two days of play, Stephen Ames probably had the most fun. He won $590,000 and the championship.

"All of us had a great week," Ames said Sunday after his 3-foot birdie putt on the third playoff hole earned him $270,000 and clinched the title.

"I forgot about the golf swing and just started playing golf. I made some nice putts and hit some good shots where I made some skins early on."

Couples, a five-time Skins champion, finished second with $385,000. His game was exceptionally sharp, evident in the fact that he had 10 birdies and an eagle over the 18 regulation and two playoff holes he played.

Couples finished with nine skins, one more than Ames. But Ames won holes with more money at stake.

"Freddie should have won," Daly said. "No offense to Stephen, but Freddie played better than all three of us. Stephen just got it at the right time."

Daly won one skin worth $25,000 and ruined his chance at the $270,000 still up for grabs when he drove into a fairway bunker on the third playoff hole.

Funk, who wore a pink skirt on one hole last year then went on to laugh all the way to the bank with $925,000 and the title, was shut out in his second trip to the Skins.

Couples and Funk were eliminated on the second playoff hole, when Ames and Daly each had birdies.

Couples, who was making his 13th appearance and is known as "King of the Skins," ran his career earnings in the event to $3.9 million.

Although the joking and needling didn't quite measure up to the hoopla over Funk's donning a skirt for the third hole last year when Annika Sorenstam outdrove him, there were lighter moments.

Funk played a couple of practical jokes, including replacing Daly's ball on the sixth green with the remote-controlled ball, then serving as Daly's caddy on the 11th tee, when he handed him a huge wedge and a child's 9-iron.

"I didn't realize his bag weighed 9,000 pounds," Funk said. Daly shot back, "That's all the cigarettes."

Couples had a tap-in that didn't affect the competition on the 10th hole, so he just hit the ball with his wedge. It rolled past the cup, and Couples showed mock disgust and said, "And I tried so hard."

Funk accepted Daly's invitation to tee off in tandem, so the two drove from the 16th tee side by side.