Stars From The Previous Century Aligning For Clinton Desert Initiative

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Still waiting for the big names to sign up for the Humana Challenge, as predicted expected when former President Bill Clinton signed up to help resuscitate the former Bob Hope Classic. (There's a fun Thomas Friedman interview with Clinton in the new Golf Digest, with some of the least interesting excerpts available here.)
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The Long, Ugly SilverRock Saga Continues

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Larry Bohannan reports the Arnold Palmer-designed course in La Quinta has been dropped from the new Hope rotation, which only has room for three courses.

At a reported cost of at least $58 million, this one has to go down as one of the great tragedies of modern design. The city had a lovely site, an open bidding process with a wide variety of architects offering ideas for something different in desert golf, but all along the job was going to Palmer because of his name. They poured massive sums into building it, then put more money in to fix design flaws pointed out by the tour, only to get just a few Bob Hopes and little in the way of positive buzz.

Hope Officially Gets Humana, Clinton

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The two main questions most would have are not answered in the release: the new tournament title and whether it's going from five days to four. Ron Sirak's report on the eight-year-deal suggests they are still contemplating the four day switch. 

For Immediate Release...

Humana and the William J. Clinton Foundation Partner with PGA TOUR for Bob Hope Classic

PONTE VEDRA BEACH, FL and LA QUINTA, CA – The PGA TOUR and the Bob Hope Classic announced today that Humana (NYSE: HUM) and the William J. Clinton Foundation have formed an eight-year partnership with the TOUR and the Classic beginning in 2012, with Humana becoming title sponsor.  Next year’s tournament week will be January 16-22.

The agreement will build on a shared commitment by both the Clinton Foundation and Humana to promote healthy living and work across sectors to improve the lives of people around the world.  A conference of health-industry leaders will be held early in the tournament week. Further details on the partnership, the tournament and the format will be announced later this spring.

“We are excited to announce this collaboration between Humana and the Clinton Foundation in support of this iconic event,” said PGA TOUR Commissioner Tim Finchem. “The tournament will take on an expanded focus of serving as a strategic platform to establish and communicate new initiatives in health and well-being. We are delighted to have the support and commitment of Humana and truly honored to have the Clinton Foundation’s partnership.”

Sponsorship of the tournament expands Humana’s involvement with the PGA TOUR. As one of the nation’s largest publicly traded health benefits companies, Humana has been a marketing partner of the TOUR since 2005 and is the “Official Health Benefits Company of the PGA TOUR and Champions Tour.”

“President Clinton and his Foundation have had an enormous impact over the past years on improving lives by transforming ideas into real action,” said Humana Chairman and CEO Michael B. McCallister.  “We see the partnership with the Clinton Foundation, the PGA TOUR and the Classic as an effective way to showcase the importance and overall benefits of a healthy lifestyle and what needs to be done to improve overall health and well-being for everyone.”

“The PGA TOUR has always been a leader in philanthropy,” President Clinton said.  “I’m so pleased that my Foundation has committed to working with the TOUR and Humana to raise awareness for global health and continue to improve the lives of people around the world. Through the Clinton Global Initiative, members have made nearly 2,000 commitments, which have helped 300 million people in more than 170 countries. My Foundation has helped 4 million people gain access to life-saving HIV/AIDS medications, but there is still more work to be done. By joining with the PGA TOUR and Humana, we can further our efforts to improve global health, strengthen economies, and protect the environment.”

President Clinton will have a prominent role in both the conference and the tournament including key messaging and a presence in the tournament telecast.

Since its introduction in 1960 as the Palm Springs Golf Classic, the tournament has generated more than $50 million for charity and literally funded the construction of the Eisenhower Medical Center, thanks in large part to Bob Hope becoming involved as tournament host in 1965. The Bob Hope Classic traditionally is played the third week of the PGA TOUR season and is the first tournament on the U.S. mainland.

“We have always felt that the Bob Hope Classic is more than just a golf tournament and we could not be more pleased that Humana, the Clinton Foundation and the PGA TOUR are enhancing the mission of this event in the spirit of Bob Hope’s legacy of giving back,” said John Foster, Chairman of the Bob Hope Classic.  “Mr. Hope epitomized a healthy lifestyle, was friend to Presidents and Kings, believed in the good works of this tournament, and would certainly be thrilled with today’s announcement.”

PGA Tour: Clinton Was Our Idea!

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Yesterday when John Strege reported Joe Ogilvie's suggestion that Bill Clinton and his Global Initiative could help jumpstart the Bob Hope, he clearly ruffled feathers in Ponte Vedra, where they oxford shirt set rolled up their sleeves and spent Friday evening crafting a statement to let the scribes in La Quinta know they were already on the Clinton initiative!
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The Annual Anthony Kim-Snubs-Childhood-Hometown-Event-Update

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This is only fun to recall since it was Kim who complained about tournament directors not returning his calls, who received one of those calls and an invite to the 2007 Bob Hope in his hometown, and who now makes sure to pass on the event. Including this week, even though he's been spotted around town, reports John Strege.
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Flash: Tournaments Were At Desert Courses To Sell Real Estate, Not For Architectural Sophistication

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Larry Bohannan considers the decline of greater Palm Springs golf events from as many as six a year (remember the Lexus Challenge!?). You'll be shocked, shocked to find out that most of it has to do with selling real estate, something they aren't doing much of there these days.
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"The Hope has a '100 percent' chance of surviving but that a move to the Champions Tour is a possibility, which may or may not meet your definition of survival."

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John Hawkins considers the future of the Bob Hope Classic and reports a couple of intriguing items:

Word on the street is that singer/actor Justin Timberlake, whose hands-on involvement with the Las Vegas tour stop transformed it into a Fall Series success, wants a bigger piece of the action and would love moving to the third week of the regular season if the spot became available.

Interestingly enough, Timberlake ditched the 72-hole pro-am format as soon as he slapped his name on the Vegas event, the first of several moves that indicate he means business. After swearing he'd never do another hit-and-giggle at Pebble, JT will return to the AT&T next month, trudge through a few six-hour rounds and sign lots of autographs for the ladies. It never hurts to help the tour if you want the tour to help you.

That said, the same source told me yesterday that the Hope has a "100 percent" chance of surviving but that a move to the Champions Tour is a possibility, which may or may not meet your definition of survival. The right thing to do is to fix it and leave it on the big tour, which prospered immensely from the Hope's popularity before becoming the big business it is today.

He's right about that. Of course the people who need to do the fixing are the ones who put the event in this position, despite what Hawkins writes:

By bringing the Classic Club into the rota in 2006, the competitive dynamic was altered, the product compromised by what was, more or less, an honest mistake.

No, it was a mistake. Let's refresh memories!

Thomas Bonk, writing about the impending demise of Indian Wells and the concerns about low scoring, January, 2004:

Indian Wells Country Club has ranked as the easiest course on the PGA Tour for the last three years and nine times since they began keeping that statistic in 1983. And at 6,478 yards, it’s also the shortest course on the PGA Tour. Tournament officials might be looking for a replacement course.

“Obviously, there is an issue out here,” said John Foster, a member of the tournament’s five-person board of directors as well as a past president. “But we don’t have a better option.

“As technology evolves, we have to look at the issue. We will have to make some tough decisions.”

A year later it was gone, and Bonk reported on the new NorthStar development, which became The Classic Club.

NorthStar, which occupies 220 acres at Cook Road and Interstate 10, will measure about 7,600 yards and can accommodate a crowd of 10,000 at its amphitheater setting at the 18th green.

“After 45 years, we had to review and we’re making changes that are substantial,” Foster said. “I think they’re going to be well received. We want to step up in the world of golf, and what we’re doing will take us to another level.”

Yes, another level alright.

Someone panicked because of low scores and the impact of technology on an event that was never meant to be an early season U.S. Open. The PGA Tour signed off on The Classic Club, SilverRock and the overall desire to change the rotation for reasons only they can explain.