While the name may live on, the Bob Hope Classic is a mere shell of its former self. Long one of the more popular events on the PGA Tour schedule, "the Hope" has been reduced to a third tier tournament that no longer inspires either fans or players.But a myriad of problems have besieged the tournament, creating what we see today. To begin, Bob Hope passed away. Losing the tournament's charismatic host and namesake, has left a humongous void that has yet to be filled successfully. As a testament as to how far the tournament has fallen, George Lopez served as the tournament's host for three years. Bob Hope for George Lopez. That's the worst replacement since Yanic Perreault took over as the Kings' top-line center after Wayne Gretzky was traded to St. Louis.
The next problem the tournament faces today is its list of celebrities. A look at their website today, revealed Scott Wolf as their "spotlight celebrity." Umm, Scott Wolf? Right, the guy from "Party of Five." Sounds like another good trade. Frank Sinatra out, Johnny Nobody in. Seems fair. Being from Calgary I've been through this before, when Gilmour was shipped to Toronto for Gary freakin' Leeman. How about getting somebody current/relevant?
And then there are the players. This year's leaderboard features one major win from the past five years, with Stewart Cink's 2009 British Open. Missing are Tiger Woods (who's never played in the tournament before), two-time champion Phil Mickelson, top-ranked Lee Westwood, along with every other player ranked in the top ten of the World Golf Rankings. That's a far cry from the days when everybody who was anybody played in this event.
Unfortunately, the slow decline of this once-great tournament wasn't anybody's fault really, nor was there ever a chance it could have been avoided. Obviously, Bob Hope couldn't live forever, and he couldn't be replaced by some Johnny-come-lately.
Secondly, the dynamics of the PGA Tour have changed so much since those glory days, most notably with such a dramatic increase in prize money and fame for the players. Today, they are amongst the highest paid athletes in the world, and include the world's most recognizable figure in Tiger Woods. With so much money and fame, it's an easy choice for players to skip a tournament where they have to play four rounds watching the sidekick from "Home Improvement" slug his way to consecutive 87's. In the 60's the players were most likely in awe of the celebrities as much as the fans. That's no longer the case.
Because the pros have become more prominent public figures, many of them have overshadowed the celebrities they play with. When Frank Sinatra teed it up with Billy Casper, the Chairman was the attraction, Casper the sideshow. Today, it's the other way around, with the player being the attraction, but his D-list partner being more of an inconvenience. While our appetite for celebrity gossip has never been bigger than it is today, the novelty of watching bad golfers play wore out several years ago. Golf fans have no interest in watching Ray Romano flail away or seeing Michael "I'm a 6, really" Jordan struggle to keep it under triple digits.
Sadly for this once entertaining tournament, I really don't see any solution to returning the Hope to top-tier status. One thing the PGA Tour could look at, is following the LPGA Tour's lead and making it mandatory for every player to play in each tournament at least once every four or five years. Of course Woods and Mickelson would just tell the Tour to pound sand on this one. Too bad, because ultimately it is the weak field that has diminished this tournament so much, and until the big names decide to tee it up in the Desert each January, this one will remain on the list of, 'I might watch if it's on, the remote is broken, and I'm tied to the couch, but otherwise there's a Three's Company marathon on."
- TheRev
twitter.com/TheRevBW
thesportsroundup@gmail.com
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