INDIAN WELLS — The Skins Game — a fixture of Coachella Valley golf since 1986 — won't be played in 2009, a victim of a struggling economy and poor television ratings.

Tournament organizers, including ESPN, IMG Media and the city of Indian Wells, made the official announcement Thursday. The tournament is expected to return in 2010, according to the statement.

“The Skins Game has enjoyed a long and successful history, and it will continue to be an important part of golf's fall season in the future, but given the current economic climate, postponing the 2009 event was necessary,” said Barry Frank, executive vice president of IMG Media and one of the founders of the Skins Game in 1983.

“We look forward to working with key partners over the coming months to ensure the Skins Game comes back next year in a manner befitting one of golf's great traditions.”

The announcement comes just weeks after officials from ESPN and the city of Indian Wells told The Desert Sun that changes were needed in one of the original made-for-television golf events if it was to continue.

In recent years, the Skins Game has struggled to attract top players and to gain big television ratings. Critics have complained about the purse — $360,000 in the event's early days and $1 million in recent years — and the lack of Tiger Woods in the field as reasons the event has struggled. Woods has played in the event six times, most recently in 2005.

Tony Renaud, a golf producer for ESPN, said the Skins Game “was dead” unless changes could be made.

Those changes included finding a new title sponsor to replace Korean-based LG Electronics, which ended its three-year deal with the tournament last year.

Other changes Renaud said are necessary include a doubling of the event's $1 million purse and freedom to select the four players in the field rather than being handcuffed by PGA Tour regulations.

The tournament was to be played for the third consecutive year at the Golf Resort at Indian Wells Nov. 27-29.

In the statement announcing the postponement, Indian Wells City Manager Greg Johnson said, “The Skins Game has been an important fixture in Southern California for the past 25 years, and not only have fans here looked forward to it each year, but also the golf fans across the country watching on television.”

In March, Johnson said the city, which was to pay $1.54 million as a site fee for the tournament this year, likely wouldn't renew the contract beyond November, the final year of a three-year agreement between IMG and the city.

The Skins Game format features four golfers playing 18 holes over two days, with each hole of the weekend worth a designated amount of money. A player must post the low score on a hole to earn the money, otherwise the cash rolls over to the next hole.

The event came to the Coachella Valley in 1986 after two years in Arizona and one year in Murrieta. With a field that included players such as Jack Nicklaus, Arnold Palmer and Lee Trevino, the Skins Game was a highly rated event on Thanksgiving weekend in a time when few golf events were played or televised in the final three months of the calendar year.

After six years at the Stadium Course at PGA West, the Skins Game moved to other desert courses, including Bighorn Golf Club in Palm Desert, Rancho La Quinta Country Club in La Quinta, Landmark Golf Club (now Terra Lago) in Indio, Trilogy Golf Club in La Quinta and most recently the Indian Wells Golf Resort.

Nearly every top player in the game has played in the Skins Game at one time, from Nicklaus to Woods, from Palmer to Phil Mickelson, from Trevino to a three-year run by LPGA star Annika Sorenstam. Fred Couples of La Quinta holds the all-time Skins record with $4.2 million in earnings, 14 appearances and five victories.

In November, K.J. Choi won $415,000 to earn the title over a field including Mickelson, Rocco Mediate and two-time defending champion Stephen Ames.

“It's such a cool event to see golf on Thanksgiving weekend,” Mickelson, a three-time Skins Game player, told The Associated Press on Friday after his round at Players Championship in Florida. “It's a shame it's not going to be around for 2009, but hopefully it will return in 2010.”