The Quiet End of Celebrity-Named Tour Events

AS ANNOUNCED LAST WEEK, the Bob Hope Classic is now the Humana Challenge, which will be a four-round 72-hole event instead of the five-round 90-hole marathon that made the Hope unique. Celebrities certainly have their exalted place in American society, but their famous names can’t pay the multi-million dollar bills on the PGA Tour.

“The reality of it is that having celebrities’ names attached to these tournaments may have at some point driven notoriety,” David Carter, executive director of USC’s Sports Business Institute, told the Los Angeles Times, “but in this era, you need to have cash.”

Goodbye, Hope. Hello, Humana. It really was inevitable.

It’s kind of amazing that the Bob Hope Classic outlived Bob Hope as long as it did. (The comedy legend died in 2003.) The tournament’s genesis was the Palm Springs Desert Classic, which started in 1960. It became the Bob Hope Desert Classic in 1965. Billy Casper won the first Hope. It was Arnold Palmer’s last PGA Tour victory in 1973, although I’m sure 43-year-old Arnold expected to win again. From 1986 to 2008, the tournament was sponsored by Chrysler and called the Bob Hope Chrysler Classic.

You may remember other long-gone celeb tour events: the Crosby, Glen Campbell Los Angeles Open, Andy Williams San Diego Open, Dinah Shore Invitational, Danny Thomas Memphis Classic and Sammy Davis Jr. Greater Hartford Open. Now they sound so quaint. (I guess we still have Justin Timberlake.)

Not all Hope is lost. Humana will award their tournament winner a newly created Bob Hope Trophy, so that’s good. The health-insurance company also plans to keep the Hope family involved.

I read that Bob Hope’s joke file is 85,000 scanned pages. You can bet he would crack a good one about last week’s Humana news. I have no idea what it would be, so I’ll leave you with this Hope one-liner:

“If you watch a game, it’s fun. If you play it, it’s recreation. If you work at it, it’s golf.”

−The Armchair Golfer

The High School Golf Swing of Bubba Watson

A Bubba Watson original at the season opener in Hawaii.

CBS’S PETER KOSTIS DOES A good job on swing analyses. Whereas other golf talking heads sound like they’re blowing smoke, Kostis, as I’ve written, hypnotizes me. He just sounds believable.

But, as I learned yesterday watching the final round of the Farmers Insurance Open, even Kostis struggles to put Bubba Watson’s swing into words. I sympathize. Bubba’s action defies explanation. It just works. Watson had all the shots in his bag this past weekend as he cruised to his second career victory at Torrey Pines.

Not long before Kostis and crew took a slo-mo look at Bubba, Kostis analyzed the swing of Bob Hope Classic winner Jhonattan Vegas. Vegas contended to the very end on Sunday before dumping his second shot into the pond that fronts the 18th green. Vegas’ swing looks like it’s out of a golf instruction book. Kostis drew two lines and a triangle, explaining how Vegas was on plane and returned the club to the same position and angle as at address. Or something like that. The point is, Johnny’s swing is near perfection. Kostis was like a college anatomy professor explaining how and why it works.

After Bubba launched a 363-yard drive on the par-5 13th, Kostis took a swing-vision gander at the lefty from Bagdad, Florida. I can’t remember much of what he said. I just remember thinking he was at a loss for words. Bubba is unconventional, to say the least. It’s fairly easy to see at full speed. He has an open stance and a big loopy swing with a follow through that always has me wondering where the ball is going. In slow motion, it’s crazy. On the backswing—dare I say the longest backswing on tour?—the clubhead is pointing at the ground. And on the downswing, just before impact, Bubba is up on the toes of both feet!

I think I figured out why Bubba can’t be explained with lines and triangles and such. He has a high school golf swing. It’s not a knock. It means he’s untouched, intuitive and creative. He’s never had a lesson or a swing coach. He says he never will.

A high school golf swing is long, natural, athletic. I saw lots of them when I played for Palmdale High in California. They’re raw, loopy, wristy and powerful. High school golfers who advance in the game usually shorten and refine their swings as they grow and mature. They adopt “positions” and shed the untamed golf swings of their youth. (I used to have a backswing as long as John Daly—when I was 14. Now I can’t turn past parallel.)

Bubba is self taught, unchanged. He’s refined a one-of-a-kind swing that busts 350-yard drives and curves shots 30 yards to the left or right.

“I’ll never change from that,” he told SI’s Farrell Evans last year. “I’ll keep playing golf the way I know how to play it and hopefully that will keep me on tour.”

I think Bubba is going to be around for a while.

−The Armchair Golfer

Golf Channel’s PGA TOUR Kickoff Sweepstakes

Editor’s note: If you’re going to be watching golf anyway, maybe you can win one of the following prizes from your friends at Golf Channel. Like a Hyundai Equus. Or an iPad. There are worst ways to spend your time.

By Golf Channel

Golf Channel is giving viewers the opportunity to win one of three 2011 Hyundai Equus and other valuable prizes by tuning in to the tournament telecasts of the first three PGA TOUR events: the Hyundai Tournament of Champions, the Sony Open in Hawaii and the Bob Hope Classic.

Golf Channel’s PGA TOUR Kickoff Sweepstakes runs through Jan. 24. Golf fans can win prizes by watching for a unique entry code each day during the network’s live tournament coverage and entering online at PGA TOUR Kickoff Sweepstakes or also via text messaging. Viewers can see the unique codes during the Hyundai Tournament of Champions from Jan. 6-9, Sony Open in Hawaii from Jan. 13-16, and Bob Hope Classic from Jan. 19-23.

All entrants are eligible to win daily prizes during the sweepstakes, including an iPad, a Golf Channel prize pack and a $100 Dick’s Sporting Goods gift card. At the conclusion of each of the first three PGA TOUR events, one lucky winner will be the recipient of a 2011 Hyundai Equus. Entrants each day are eligible for the daily prize and that week’s grand prize car drawing.

Complete information, including sweepstakes rules, tournament airtimes and interactive features, is available at PGA TOUR Kickoff Sweepstakes.