La Quinta, Calif. ? Minutes after hitting into the water to blow a chance at winning the Skins Game, Tiger Woods smiled and jokingly walked arm-in-arm down the fairway with Fred Couples.

Hey, what else can you do when you’re playing Mr. Skins himself?

Couples continued his amazing run in the Thanksgiving weekend tournament, prevailing in four playoff holes over Woods to claim the final three skins and $340,000, and win his record fifth Skins Game with a total of $640,000.

“I’m just happy I took the ‘king of skins’ extra holes,” Woods said. “I made him work for it.”

Couples won all his money on Sunday, starting with a birdie putt worth $300,000 and eight skins on the first hole. He finally won the tournament after Woods’ tee shot went into the water on the last playoff hole, the par-3, 204-yard 17th at Trilogy Golf Club on a cold, windy day in the desert. Couples, 45, has won a record $3,515,000 and 77 skins in 11 appearances in the made-for-TV tournament.

“It’s a sweet day for me,” Couples said.

“When I come here, I don’t expect to win. I just expect to go out and play and hit some really good shots,” he said. “I did for a couple of days and I won a lot of skins, and it just happened.”

Couples, who injured his back not long after his 15th and most recent PGA Tour victory, the 2003 Houston Open, has heard all the talk that his competitive days are winding down.

Fred Couples holds the skins trophy on Sunday after a sudden death playoff with Tiger Woods at the Trilogy Golf Club in LaQuinta, Calif. Couples won 11 skins for 40,000.

“I’d love to lose today and go win the L.A. Open,” said Couples, the 1992 Masters champion. “I’ll be quite honest with you. That’s hard to do. It’s hard for me to play four really good rounds, but that’s my goal. My goal is to win again.”

Woods finished second with five skins and $310,000, more money than he won in his previous four Skins Games combined.