Former President Clinton’s involvement helps revive golf tournament

Reporting from La Quinta — Bob Hope’s spirit is everywhere at the Palmer Private at PGA West golf course.

Photos are posted, walkways are named for him, his golf cart is exhibited as if it is a museum piece.

The tournament used to be called the Bob Hope Classic. Beginning Thursday it’s the Humana Challenge in partnership with the Clinton Foundation.

And if Hope’s aura is still felt, it is Bill Clinton’s physical presence that helped save this event.

As recently as two years ago, it seemed as if the tournament that had once been a calendar must for every great player might disappear. Its five-day format was an anachronism and Bob Hope just wasn’t here anymore.

But last year it was announced that Humana was coming aboard as the new sponsor for the next eight years, and with that came the partnership with the Clinton Foundation.

Phone calls from the former president secured the presence of Greg Norman, who had played this event once in his career, and two-time winner Phil Mickelson, who hadn’t played here since 2007.

There has been a format change as well. Instead of five rounds, there are four. Only three courses are being used — La Quinta Country Club, Nicklaus Private at PGA West and Palmer Private — with the less popular SilverRock dropped from the rotation. The purse has been increased to $5.6 million and the winner will receive $1 million.

Besides Mickelson and Norman, the field includes Dustin Johnson, who is ranked eighth in the world, and Matt Kuchar, who is ranked 11th. Johnson will be making his first start since having knee surgery in November and said Wednesday, “My knee’s feeling strong, better than last year.”

The same could be said of the tournament as a whole.

“Bob Hope’s involvement over the years was fantastic,” Jack Nicklaus said. “Hope was able to bring in presidents, senators, congressmen, movie stars, musicians and all kinds of people that tended to, for lack of a better word, glamorized the event.”

John Foster, chairman of the board of the Humana Challenge, said it’s a new time and a new world.

There are not golf-loving and playing entertainers of the stature of Hope, Bing Crosby, Dinah Shore and Andy Williams who have the cachet to attract global athletic stars and even presidents.

“You start with the premise there will never be another Bob Hope,” Foster said. “We are very lucky to have what we have now.”

Brandel Chamblee, a former PGA Tour player and now an analyst for the Golf Channel, said Clinton’s association with the tournament is a game-changer.

“This event had slipped into the lower echelon,” Chamblee said. “One of the reasons I wanted to play golf was watching the Hope Classic on television. It would be freezing where I was living and there was La Quinta where it was sunny and all the big celebrities.”

Frank Nobilo, also a Golf Channel analyst and former player, agreed.

“The tournament was struggling with its legacy,” Nobilo said. “They couldn’t quite get it right. Now you’ve gone to the top of the tree where you have a president involved. When a president is involved, people listen.”

Arnold Palmer, who won the Hope Classic five times including his 62nd and final PGA Tour event in 1973, said the Bob Hope era was “one of the better times in our history of golf. But history changes and it’s a new environment.”

Palmer said he had once been approached about being the Hope-like host of the tournament but felt he wasn’t the right fit.

“I held back on that,” Palmer said. “I was just flattered they thought of me.”

diane.pucin@latimes.com

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