Humana Challenge highlights changing times
Or, in many cases, by the celebrity who attached his name to the event.
It was a time when municipalities, mostly, raised the purse money, when selling tickets was a huge part of the bottom line, when a few hours of weekend television coverage -- if that -- was the norm.
The Hope and the Crosby became synonymous with tour stops in Palm Springs and Pebble Beach, respectively. Fort Lauderdale had Jackie Gleason, San Diego had Andy Williams and Los Angeles had Glen Campbell.
There were others: Dean Martin (Tucson), Joe Garagiola (Tucson), Danny Thomas (Memphis), Sammy Davis Jr. (Hartford), Ed McMahon (Quad Cities), to name a few.
Today, the list has dwindled to one. Entertainer Justin Timberlake's name is part of the Shriners Hospital for Children Open in Las Vegas.
He became the sole survivor when tournament officials dropped Bob Hope's name from this week's tournament near Palm Springs.
Now known as the Humana Challenge, the tournament had survived without a title sponsor for several years after Chrysler pulled its name from the event following the 2008 tournament.
Corporate sponsorship is a necessary part of the golf landscape these days. Given the tournament structure, no event can survive for long without it, as the title sponsor puts up a healthy percentage of the purse and commits to television advertising -- required of all sponsors. These sponsorships run into the millions of dollars.
So this was inevitable. Hope died in 2003, but his name remained part of the tournament through last year. Now former President Bill Clinton is involved in the event and has made Humana's health initiatives an important part of the week.
The winner will receive the Bob Hope Trophy, but it doesn't hurt to pay homage to what was.
A few years ago, the tournament brought in comedian George Lopez to serve as host for two years and Arnold Palmer hosted the 50th version of the event in 2009. Palmer's association with the event goes back to 1960, when he won the Palm Springs Desert Golf Classic. It became the Bob Hope Desert Classic in 1965. Palmer won the tournament a total of five times, including the last of his 62 PGA Tour titles in 1973.
In those days, celebrity involvement provided a big boost, but Palmer -- who has his own tournament, the Arnold Palmer Invitational -- understands full well the changing landscape.
"We were very anxious and pleased to have people like Bob Hope and Sammy Davis and Dean Martin ... all the guys who were celebrities who put their names on golf tournaments,'' Palmer said. "It helped in a couple of ways. It helped with the general public and got attention to the tournament itself.
"It also encouraged amateurs to participate in the pro-am and to come and be a part of the tournament. And it did help with corporate sponsors, too. It was very important to the game and the professional tour.''
Of course, there was no wall-to-wall sports coverage then. Golf tournaments got weekend television coverage, at best, and many were not on the air at all.
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So the celebrities and the friends they could recruit to the event helped draw more spectators and attention. And for those events that did warrant television coverage, non-golf fans might be likelier to tune in.
Of course, as golf became more popular and the cost of putting on a tournament escalated, the celebrity host went the way of metal spikes.
The sponsorship of a regular PGA Tour event runs about $7 million a year these days. For that kind of money, companies want their name and their name only on the tournament and don't want to run the risk that it will be referred to as "the Hope'' or "the Crosby,'' which years ago became the AT&T Pebble Beach Pro-Am.
In addition to Clinton's involvement this year, the Humana Challenge also made the difficult step of giving up a good bit of its history. The former Hope was a 90-hole event played over five days and four courses. That has been trimmed to 72 holes, four days and three courses. And instead of playing with three amateurs for four days, pros will get one amateur partner for three days.
Those might seem like little things, but to the players, they were quite significant.
Birdies And Bogeys
BIRDIES
1. Johnson Wagner. His victory at the Sony Open was the third of his career and gets him a Masters invitation.
2. Tim Finchem. The PGA Tour commissioner has his detractors, but there is no mistaking the tour's growth under his leadership -- which has been recognized with a four-year contract extension.
3. LPGA Tour. Commissioner Mike Whan announced a schedule with several more tournaments, a good sign.
BOGEYS
1. Ryo Ishikawa. The Japanese star has found fleeting success on the PGA Tour, as another missed cut at the Sony again pointed out.
2. David Toms. After finishing 26th out of 27 players at Kapalua, Toms missed the cut at the Sony -- although at least his second round was a 67.
3. Open Championship qualifiers. Last week it was Australia; this week it's South Africa. It's January, six months ahead of the Open at Royal Lytham. Yet at least six guys will punch their ticket to the game's oldest championship.
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