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Tournament Stats:
January 21 - 25, 2009PGA West
Palm Springs, California
Par: 72 / Yardage: 6,950 (Palmer Course)
Other courses used
SilverRock Resort
Par: 72 / Yardage: 7,578
Bermuda Dunes
Par: 72 / Yardage: 7,017
Nicklaus Private
Par 72 / Yardage 6,951
Purse: $5.1 million with $918,000 going to the winner
Defending Champions: D.J. Trahan
Results & Scores 2008 Bob Hope Chrysler
Box Score of 2008 Bob Hope Chrysler
Tournament facts:
Tournament Record:324 (Joe Durant in 2001)
72-Hole Record:
259 (Tim Herron in 2003, Joe Durant in 2001)
54-Hole Record:
193 (Joe Ogilvie in 2005, Joe Durant in 2001)
36-Hole Record:
126 (Joe Durant in 2001)
Low round of tournament:
59 (David Duval, 5th round, 1999)
Individual Course records:
PGA West/Palmer Course - 59 by David Duval in 1999Bermuda Dunes - 61 by Pat Perez in 2003
Silver Rock - 64 by D.J. Trahan in 2008
Course information:
Other courses used in the rota:
Arnold Palmer Private Course at PGA West
La Quinta, Calif.
6,950 yards Par 36-36--72
Course has a 74.6 rating and slope rating of 140 from the championship tees
Course is private and not open to the public.
Course was designed by Arnold Palmer and was opened in 1987
Course returns as the host for the first time since 2005. The Palmer Course at PGA West will go down in history as the site of the lowest final round in golf. David Duval shot 59 to win the Hope three years ago and even though many may think that the course is easy, it isn't. Duval's round was probably one of the greatest rounds because he accomplished it on a course that shouldn't have a sub-60 round. If there is a weakness to this course, its the par 5s, but the heart of the course is it's par 4s which are long and play tough with five of them having water hazards on them.
The average green size at the Palmer course is 5,500 square feet and the course has 97 bunkers. Water comes in play on ten of the 18 holes. Last year the course played to a 69.504 average making it the 3rd easiest course on the PGA Tour.
Bermuda Dunes C.C.
Bermuda Dunes, Calif.
6,927 yards Par 36-36--72
Course has a 72.9 rating and slope rating of 122 from the championship tees
Course is private and not open to the public.
Course was designed by Billy Bell and was opened in 1958
Bermuda Dunes has held every Bob Hope and has been the host course 15 times, most of any course that has held the Classic. The course is one of those classic desert courses, long with lots of bunkers and pretty big greens. For the average golfer this is a tough course but for the pros on the PGA Tour its one of the easiest. The rumor going around is that this could be the last time the Hope is played on this course.
The average green size at Bermuda Dunes is 6,500 square feet and the course has 68 bunkers. There are four water hazards on the course. Last time the course was used in the Hope was in 2007 and played to a 69.835 average making it the 3rd easiest course on the PGA Tour.
PGA West Jack Nicklaus Private
La Quinta, Calif.
6,951 yards Par 36-36--72
Course has a 74.3 rating and slope rating of 146 from the championship tees
Course is private and not open to the public.
PGA West Jack Nicklaus Private, designed to host the 1991 Ryder Cup, the event was ultimately moved to The Ocean Course at Kiawah Island. From back tees course is only 6,951 but still tough with water coming into play on 7 holes. First time being used for the Hope.
SilverRock
La Quinta, Calif.
7,403 yards Par 36-36--72
Course has a 76.3 rating and slope rating of 139 from the championship tees
Course is public and open to the public.
Course was designed by Arnold Palmer and was opened in 2005
Silver Rock is another Arnold Palmer design, it can be stretched to close to 7,600 but for the pros this week it will play at 7,360 yards, which will give the pros a bit of a break in it's first year. Some of the key holes will be the fact that three of the par 5s will be over 570 yards and the other one will be at 544. Of the par 4s, four of them are over 480 yards with the 15th being played at 480 on the card but can be stretched to 525 yards, yes that isn't a misprint. The course is next to the Santa Rosa Mountains and should offer a good challenge for the players in which long hitters will have a big advantage. The average green size at SilverRock is 6,000 square feet and the course has 96 bunkers. Last year the course played to a 70.539 average making it the 47th toughest.
For a more comprehensive look at the course, look at this Course Overview done by PGA Tour.Com
The Buzz:
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Anthony Kim withdrew on Tuesday morning from the 50th Bob Hope Classic. A very surprising withdrawal because Kim was the heavy favorite to win this week's Bob Hope. Tournament Officials later said that the reason for the withdrawal is a shoulder injury and Kim commented that he doesn't think the injury will cause him to miss extended time from the Tour.
Things have been drastically changing at the Hope and some of it not for the good.
Just 20 years ago this was a tournament that players like playing in. The field was loaded with not only PGA Tour stars but a list of top-notch celebrities. Unfortunely things started changing in the 90s when Bob Hope grew older and was unable to call in favors from players and celeb's. Along with that is the fact that players have changed.
With all the money on the table every week players realized that it's not in there best interest playing four different courses over five days. On top of that players have gotten more focused during tournaments and don't want to be distracted by amateurs and since they have to play four of five days with them it's caused a lot of players not to return.
The people that run the Hope are also a problem. Instead of seeing the problems and trying to change, they seem to live in a bygone era when Bob Hope was a big deal and feel the tournament should be just like it was 20 years ago. Unfortunely Mr. Hope is gone and the PGA Tour is a much different machine than it was 20 years ago. I spent four years between 1999 and 2002 with ABC Sports at the Hope and I have never seen tournament officials as hard to deal with as Hope officials. Instead of trying to grasp the change they feel that the problem is the way television covers and promotes the event.A perfect example of how bad this event is run was what they did with George Lopez. He worked his butt off and really elevated the event with better celebrities and a new vigor that hasn't been seen. So what did the good folks at the Hope do, they didn't ask him back, basically showed him the door and reverted back to it's theme of let's remember the past instead of looking toward the future. Of course it's nice to have Arnold Palmer hosting the 50th Hope but let's face it when the last putt drops on Sunday this event is going to revert back to it's desperate need for major help.
The future isn't very good for the Hope, as it lives in a bygone era the world is passing it by and with Chrysler on the verge of going into oblivion you have to wonder what will happen to this event. First of all it hasn't had to go out and scramble for a sponsor, Chrysler has been the events only one and been with them for 22 years. Another big problem, the Palm Springs area is very small in marketing terms and when your talking about having to find someone with a spare 8 to 11 million dollars that will be a tough task.
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Now the event or should we say the PGA Tour took care of one big problem, moving away from the Classic Club. It was a novel idea, somebody gives a piece of land in the desert to the tournament, they go out and get Arnold Palmer to build them a nice course and just like that we will put our tournament on it and they will come. Unfortunely there was a reason that the got that land for free, it's in an area of Palm Springs that gets high winds going through the pass from Los Angeles. We have all seen in movies like "Rain Man" and "Mission Impossible III" desert scenes with big windmills, that location is just a couple miles down the road from the Classic Club. There is a reason for those windmills being there, high winds and that was the big problem that the Classic Club has, winds.
But the rumor had it that the PGA Tour in a nice way said to move and the Hope people listened, so the event goes back to Palmer Private at PGA West. Bermuda Dunes returns, it has held ever Hope except for last year. Also being used this year is the Nicklaus Private at PGA West, a course built to hold the Ryder Cup but it never got that chance.
For many the Bob Hope Chrysler Classic has been folklore of the PGA Tour. Hopefully as it ends it's first half century someone will be able to guide it better in it's next half century, oh if it has a sponsor for it's 51st edition.
Here are some things to look for this week:
This week the pros will play over four courses in four days, quite a learning scale with very little time to prepare. Making it even harder is the fact that a new course is added, Nicklaus private. This is the reason that so many players decided not to play the Sony after Mercedes, they thought it best to get into Palm Springs and get ready for this event. Another item that needs to be address is the fact that in the first four days the pros will be playing with amateurs, so patient is needed to tolerate those five plus hour rounds. So look for experience players to do well this week, those with a long track record at the Hope should be your favorites. Since 1984 the champion has averaged winning in his 7th Bob Hope start. Experience is a must in this event, yes Charley Hoffman was a first year player in 2007 and he was the first player to make his Hope debut a victory since Donnie Hammond did it in 1986.
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Here are some of the secrets of what it takes to play well at the Bob Hope Chrysler:
- The odds of winning the Hope is better than any other full field event because only 128 are in the field. So you won't find non-exempt players or those that are high on the PGA Tour priority list getting into this event.
- The winner will have to make lots of birdies and eagles to win. Phil Mickelson made 37 birdies in 2004 while Justin Leonard made 33 in 2005 and D.J. Trahan made 35 last year. Mickelson's feat of 37 birdies tied with Tom Kite in 1993 for the most anyone has made in a PGA Tour event, that mark is safe with the winds of Classic Club and a new course on the rota but the point is you have to make a lot of birdies.
- Look at someone that destroys the par 5s. The last 10 winners have averaged 15 under on them with Phil Mickelson playing them in 14 under in 2002, Mike Weir playing them in 15 under in 2003 and Phil Mickelson playing them in 12 under in 2004, Justin Leonard playing them in 10 under in 2005, Chad Campbell playing them in 18 under in 2006, Charley Hoffman playing them in 15 under in 2007 while D.J. Trahan was 13 under on them last year.
- Look for scores to go down this year. That's because the Classic Club will be gone, players will be use to playing SilverRock and Bermuda Dunes is back, that course has always been a pushover.
- Again if we get one of those great days without winds the chances for sub-60 rounds on PGA West is a possibity, remember it was the course of David Duval's 59 in 1999.
