TAKE FIVE: THE ULTIMATE GAME

Wednesday, June 6, 2007 | 7:12 a.m.

What: The Ultimate Game

When: Thursday and Friday

Where: Wynn Las Vegas

Admission: Invited guests only

TV: 10:30 a.m. Saturday and noon Sunday; KVVU Channel 5

Information: www.theultimategame.com

The Ultimate Game, the world's richest golf tournament, is open to any male or female golfer who has never been a fully exempt member of the PGA Tour, PGA European Tour, Champions Tour, Nationwide Tour or LPGA Tour.

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Preliminary rounds are played on the Jack Nicklaus-designed Reflection Bay at Lake Las Vegas.

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Final rounds are played at the Wynn Las Vegas Golf Club, designed by Tom Fazio.

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Amateurs should note that playing in this tournament will jeopardize their amateur status.

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Oh yeah. It costs $50,000 to enter, and the check is nonrefundable.

Gulp.

On Thursday and Friday, 12 golfers meeting the above criteria will play for the richest purse in golf history - $2 million to win - in Steve Wynn's winner-take-nearly-all 36-hole stroke-play bonanza at Wynn Las Vegas.

One of the potential instant millionaires is Erik Compton of Miami, who had a heart transplant as a youngster. That fact impressed Lee Trevino, who will be part of Fox TV's broadcast team for the precedent-setting event, but also gave him pause.

"I just hope he got somebody's heart that wasn't choking, because that is going to be a lot of pressure on the heart," Trevino said.

1. Tin cup turns gold

With a first-place prize of $2 million, the Ultimate Game is the richest golf tournament in the world - that is, if you discount Michael Jordan and Charles Barkley's unofficial skins games. Other lucrative tournaments and their first-place payouts include The Players ($1.62 million), the World Golf Championships ($1.35 million), the British Open ($1.38 million), the Masters ($1.26 million), the Tour Championship and other FedEx Cup playoff events ($1.26 million), the U.S. Open ($1.225 million) and the PGA Championship ($1.224 million). Each of the 12 qualifiers receives his $50,000 entry fee back, and 10 players, who qualified in last week's match play preliminary, will get an additional $50,000.

2. Other people's money

The legendary Trevino is famous for saying that real pressure on the golf course is playing for $20 when you've only got $10. With most of the 12 finalists having sponsors who already have recouped their money, the pressure to play for what amounts to a $2 million bonus won't be as great as fronting your own stake, Trevino says. "It wouldn't surprise me if the guy who wins faints on the 18th green."

3. Texas tee

When Trevino, who won 16 major tournaments, was asked about the last time he stood over a putt and felt his collar tighten, he said it wasn't at St. Andrews or Pebble Beach or Winged Foot. "Oh, it probably had to be over in Fort Worth with the guys I gamble with," golf's colorful "SuperMex" said. "I knew if I missed the putt on tour, I was going to get something second place or some money. When I play with my boys over in Fort Worth, it's a different story. You get a putt that is worth something (when the money is coming) out of your pocket."

4. Home course advantage

Three of the 12 Ultimate Game finalists - Chris Berry, Ken Jarner and Scott Piercy - hail from Las Vegas. But Trevino said he's picking former major league baseball pitcher Rick Rhoden, who has enough game to have qualified for the U.S. Senior Open, for two reasons. First, he probably doesn't need the money; second, having pitched in the World Series, he's used to performing under pressure. Plus, Rhoden has played more stroke-play golf in bigger settings than the other players, most of whom are match-play specialists.

5. He's an excellent driver

Trevino said he's also looking forward to watching 17-year-old phenom Tony Finau pound the ball around the course, although the relatively snug confines of Wynn Las Vegas could negate those prodigious blasts off the tee - especially in a 36-hole tournament that leaves little room for error. "He hits the ball so far and so high, it's almost shocking to see," Terry Jastrow, an award-winning TV producer, said about the big-hitting teenager from Salt Lake City, who turned pro to play in this event. Jastrow says Finau's golf bag is more outrageous than Al Czervik's in "Caddyshack." "He carries one driver, 12 irons and a putter."