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Having a ball at the Hope

Posted: Monday January 21, 2002 12:30 PM

PALM DESERT, Calif. -- It's hard to believe, but in all my years of covering PGA Tour golf, I've always managed to avoid the Bob Hope Chrysler Classic. The logistics of having the tournament spread out on four courses over four days, plus only one pro in each group, make it a tough job for a reporter, so I never felt as if I was missing much. The only other significant tournaments I haven't been to in person are Torrey Pines (I'll be going in a few weeks), the John Deere Classic and the Buick Challenge.

My debut at the Hope last week was a pleasant surprise. If you're a golf fan who's thinking about attending a tour event someday, check this one out. For starters, it's near Palm Springs, Calif. Trust me, this is where you want to spend January (unless, of course, you live in Maui, and if that's the case you should never leave your island). It's sunny, it's warm, there's no wind and it gets chilly at night. It feels spring-like.

Second, it's a great place to watch golf. Until the weekend, the Hope tournament didn't draw many spectators. Most of the celebrity amateurs are assigned to the same course rotation, and while a couple of Backstreet Boys attracted a bunch of screaming 13-year-old girls, even the gallery following the most popular celebrities on the weekdays was only a few hundred. It's nothing like the real thing -- chasing Tiger. It's almost like golf in the '50s, or how I imagine it. You can walk along with the pro you want to follow; stand right next to the ropes on the tee when he hits; walk up to the green, where there's probably not more than a dozen others, including volunteers; and get much more up close and personal than, say, at the Byron Nelson Classic, where 30,000 or 40,000 fans (or more) show up on a daily basis.

I watched A.J. from the Backstreet Boys sign autographs in the area behind the 18th green after he finished Saturday. OK, so he only signed for about every fourth person leaning against the fence as he made his way toward the clubhouse, but it was a passable effort and he left some memorable smiles on some young girls' faces. All right, so maybe these aren't A-list celebrities, but the tournament had Randy Johnson, Justin Timberlake, Staind, Tom Glavine, Greg Maddux, Glen Campbell and Stone Phillips, among others.

The Hope gets decent crowds on the weekend but still not the bumper-to-bumper chaos of, say, the Greater Hartford Open. So you've got celebrities, no crowds, great weather and mostly flat, easy-to-walk golf courses. In other words, ideal spectating conditions.

Here's what else went on at the Hope:

  • Driving back to my luxurious (add laugh track here) hotel after Saturday's round, I made a detour through the Jack-in-the-Box drive-thru window. As I was fiddling with the lid for the milk shake while cruising along Highway 111, somebody honked at me. I look over in the left lane and there's Charles Howell III rolling past in his courtesy car, a cell phone to one ear and giving me a wave. As I waved back, I flicked flecks of chocolate shake on my shirt with Woody Allen-like aplomb. This is why Howell is one of the most popular players among the media. He's a nice guy. He's normal. He enjoys himself.

  • Ian Leggatt is back after surviving Q school. He had a pretty good year in 2000, making $368,000, but was 133rd on the money list and just missed being exempt. He's 36 and last year was his first full year on the big tour. He shot 25 under here and tied for 13th, winning $77,333, so he's almost 20 percent of the way to earning his card for 2003. He was the sixth alternate for this week's Phoenix Open when he left the Hope Sunday night. If he doesn't get in there, he'll almost certainly get to play at Pebble Beach the following week. It won't be out of his way to take a shot at Phoenix -- he lives in Scottsdale and is going home, anyway. He's got a Canadian McDonald's logo on his golf shirt. I asked him if he has a free pass at the restaurants. He said he's got free sandwich cards. "But it's not an all-you-can-eat buffet card," he said.

  • Brandel Chamblee, who played a carom shot off the rocks to escape trouble in an earlier round, got a bad carom off the rocks on the 15th hole in Sunday's final round, his ball going across the green and into the water on the other side. "I guess the rock gods were paying me back," he said. "Kirk Triplett was going to invite me to see his wine cellar, but it's new and covered with rocks, so he was afraid I might be dangerous." Chamblee, who on Sunday briefly had the lead by himself late on the front nine, shot a final-round 70 and tied for sixth. He missed a five-foot birdie putt on the final hole.

  • I saw last week's guest columnist, actor Kyle MacLachlan, take a few swings. He's not bad. He did, after all, play a little high school golf. He said he was a 14-handicapper in his story last week but was listed as a 9 in the Hope. I asked him what happened to his other five strokes. He said he wanted to err on the side of caution, since he isn't a member at a club in Los Angeles, where he lives, and doesn't have an official handicap. He's got potential. He said he may try to write another piece about his Hope experience, since he was paired Saturday with his golfing idol, Arnold Palmer.

  • You know those oversized checks they give to the winner? Well, since the Hope went to a playoff, officials had to be ready so they had two made up, one each for Phil Mickelson and David Berganio, the playoff combatants, for $720,000. Mickelson won. If I can get my hands on the one made out to Berganio, Sign Boy and I are going to try to cash it.

    Aside

    This has nothing to do with the Hope, but one of best golf Web sites (after this one, of course) has moved. WhatTheyreWriting.com can now be seen at PGATour.com. It's a handy collection of the day's golf stories as they appeared in Web pages around the world, already sorted, organized and linked for your convenience. Trust me, America's golf writers rob from this page like Lara Croft at a tomb. It should be your No. 2 cyberspace stop every day. I think you know what No. 1 is.

    Mailbag

    Just read the article by Kyle MacLachlan. Please tell him that it was very well written. I could almost imagine myself being there. I happened to watch the Dunhill Links Championship last year, and I remember his wonderful birdie on No. 14 at Carnoustie. His swing is very fine from what I saw on TV. Looking forward to another article on his experience at the Bob Hope.
    —Wilfred Fan, Bangkok

    If you could imagine yourself at Carnoustie instead of in Bangkok, he must be a good writer.

    You know, for a writer, that Kyle guy ain't a bad actor! (Hey, I for one enjoyed the movie Dune!) Excellent article, it would be nice to see a followup later in the season.
    —Curtis Dutiel, Kayenta, Ariz.

    Thanks, Curtis. You did mean a followup on Dune, right?

    First column of the year and we get somebody else's work and a skimpy Mailbag? I guess a renewed commitment to the job wasn't among your resolutions. Potshots aside, I'd like your take on the twentysomethings on tour. Sergio García seems to be the frontrunner, but every time I check the Monday scoreboard Charles Howell III is near the top of the page. Luke Donald? Bryce Molder? What's the word on these guys and their potential?
    —John Trenholme, Victoria, British Columbia

    The Mailbag was skimpy, John, because you and your pals hadn't sent in any questions. Guess you're too busy ice-fishing, eh? I'll tell Kyle MacLachlan you weren't impressed with his story. I guess Twin Peaks reruns haven't made it to Canada yet. As for your question, draft any of these guys in your golf pool now, if it's not already too late. García has already shown his talent. His swing is getting better and he drives it fairly straight. I think he'll win at least one U.S. Open and wouldn't be at all surprised if he did it this year at Bethpage Black. What Howell did last year makes it clear just how good he is. If he can improve his putting, which has been mediocre by pro-tour standards he'll be top-10-in-the-world material. I like his attitude. Donald, after a brilliant college career at Northwestern, looks like another sure thing. In this distinguished group, Molder ranks fourth, but that's hardly a slight. All four are the real deal. If they were stocks, I'd say buy, buy, buy.

    My friends and I go on a golf trip every year, each time to a different place. This year we are choosing between San Diego and Biloxi, Miss. Any recommendation between the two?
    —Stephen S. Lavallo, Evansville, Ind.

    Never been to Biloxi, Stephen. San Diego has America's best weather and lots of crowded courses. Can anyone help him out?

    I saw your response to a question about handicapping a foursome using the lowest person as the base. I have done the same thing in matches, but it always seemed a little wrong. For instance, if one person is a 10 and another is a 14, then using your suggested method the 14 would get a stroke on the four hardest holes. However, in a tournament, the 10 and the 14 would both get strokes on the four hardest holes, but the 10 would, in fact, be giving strokes to the 14 on handicap holes 11-14. Doesn't this seem contradictory?
    —Denis Imazeki, Sunnyvale, Calif.

    Shrewd point, Denis. You're right. That's an interesting differential. But speaking of contradictory, what about handicaps themselves? So my handicap is lower than yours? Too bad. That's why I practiced. Why should I give up my advantage because your game sucks worse than mine?

    I am a rather fanatical collector of logo golf balls commemorating major championships, so when I came across a 1994 PGA Championship at Oak Tree ball on eBay, I couldn't pass it up. Problem is, I'm sure you know, Oak Tree didn't host the PGA that year (or ever as far as I know); Southern Hills did. Did I get scammed or is there a story to this piece of my collection?
    —Chris Lindy, Evansville, Ind.

    You got a story, Chris. Oak Tree was scheduled to host the '94 PGA but its owners fell victim to the S&L collapse and the whole drawn-out Landmark bankruptcy. The tournament was switched to another Oklahoma course, Southern Hills. Another recent switch was when the PGA of America moved the 2004 PGA Championship from Valhalla, where it was scheduled, to Whistling Straits --without telling anybody in Louisville about the renege before the press conference.

    What's the deal with divots nowadays? I noticed none of the caddies seemed to repair them in the two tournaments in Hawaii, and many of the fairways looked like mine fields from 120 yards out. I thought it was basic etiquette that could cost weekend hackers their membership. What gives?
    —Greg Mettam, Sydney, Australia

    I'll assume the courses had bermuda grass, Greg, like they have in the southern U.S. Bermuda grows sideways like a weed, unlike bent grass, and southerners know never to replace a divot, which then inhibits the bare spot from filling in.

    Sports Illustrated senior writer Gary Van Sickle writes for the magazine's Golf Plus section and is a regular contributor to CNNSI.com. Click here to send him a question or comment.

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