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by Jeff Skinner

As much as Bob Hope did for the game of golf, and he is a member of the World Golf Hall of Fame, his legacy is much more than that. Yes, he loved golf and he made a career out of hacking it around.  But his true legacy lies in the faces of the thousands of servicemen that he spent countless hours with during his career.

For over fifty years he took his travelling Christmas Show all over the world so those soldiers and sailors far from home would have a little piece of Christmas.

In 1997 Congress and President Clinton named Hope an “Honorary Veteran.”  It was the first time anyone had ever been given that honor.  True to his humility, Hope said, “I’ve been given many awards in my lifetime, but to be numbered among the men and women I admired most…is the greatest honor I have ever received.”

by Jeff Skinner

It’s that time again, that time when the PGA Tour moves to the mainland and all of those fans whose clubs have been replaced with snow shovels check the calendar to see when it will be our turn to tee it up.

The Southern Californian desert plays host the newly configured Humana Challenge in Partnership with the Clinton Foundation.  That’s a heck of a mouthful for a tournament that used to be called simply “The Hope.”  With the trouble that The Bob Hope Classic was having for the last decade the PGA Tour took very drastic measures to reformulate The Hope to make it more appealing to the fans, to get more name players to play and of course, to be profitable.   If a tournament can’t attract a deep pocketed sponsor it is not going to be around any longer.

Bob Hope had his name on this event since 1965 and for decades this was a fun, interesting and most of all, significant event.  When the PGA Tour tapped President Clinton to pump up the tournament I had my doubts.  Politics aside, I’ve never been a fan of Clinton due to his personal flaws and the fact that he’s well known for his ten foot gimmies and conveniently forgetting a stroke or two while playing golf.  He wouldn’t have been my choice to lead The Hope.

But Clinton has had a very positive impact on The Humana.  As Tim Finchem had hoped, Clinton reached out and used the power of the Presidency; even an ex-pres still has plenty of juice.  He got his buddy Greg Norman to play and he also was able to persuade Phil Mickelson to show up.  This tournament now has an emphasis on healthy living and that’s a cause that Phil supports himself. So Phil comes back to the desert for the first time since 2007.  Jhonattan Vegas will defend and even local boy Anthony Kim has returned as have many others who have skipped this stop recently.

Adding a Norman and a Mickelson doesn’t mean that The Humana is now the hottest thing since Augusta, but it’s a start.  Mickelson is the games second biggest draw and his presence will put fans on the ropes but there is more work to be done.  Clinton knows it and so does Finchem but they certainly have the tournament headed in the right direction.

However, I think the tour could have still found a way to honor Bob Hope.  Yes, there will be touches of the Hope legacy around the grounds of the tournament but in a tournament name that needs eight words in it couldn’t they have included “Hope” in there somewhere.  How about: “the Humana Hope Challenge in Partnership with the Clinton Foundation.”  That would have done it for me and many of the fans that had come to know that this time of year always started with “The Hope.”

Click here for Norman’s take on President Clinton.

by Jeff Skinner

The Sony Open was more than the first full field event of the PGA Tour season.  For many players it was “the first day of the rest of their lives.”  Mixed in with all the veteran faces that graced Waialae Country Club were some new ones making their debut as full fledged tour members.

Billy Hurley III is one of the new tour members that made his way onto the tour via the Nationwide Tour Money List.  He was the 25^th and final qualifier from The Nationwide Tour but his route to the PGA Tour took him to places few golfers frequent.  Hurley joins the tour after a five year stint in the U.S. Navy where he spent time on active duty in places where golf was a distant afterthought.  He sailed through the troubled waters of the Middle East and the South China Sea but while actually playing golf was a world away it never was out of his thoughts.

Hurley played college golf at the Naval Academy and as a freshman was an average player.  But as he matured so did his golf game and as a senior he won six of his thirteen tournaments and made it to match play in the 2003 U.S. Amateur.  After graduation through the good graces of the Navy he was able to play on the victorious 2005 Walker Cup Team with Anthony Kim, Jeff Overton, J.B. Holmes and Matt Every.  But after that he had to serve his five year commitment in the Navy.  There was some thought of getting a reduction in his service time as NBA great David Robinson had received but with the U.S. fighting two wars there was little chance of that happening.  So Hurley served, and served with distinction aboard the U.S.S. Chong-Hoon, a guided missile destroyer and he was honored as Ship Handler of the Year for his skillful driving of the warship.

When his tour was up in 2009 he hoped to return to the game and was praying his game returned to him.  He scraped the barnacles off his game and banged around the mini-tours and failed at Q-School.  But the following year his Q-School finish got him privileges on The Nationwide Tour and he had his chance at earning a living playing golf.  In 2011 he finished in the money 13 times and had four top tens.  That was enough to earn his card to the big show and his first appearance this year was fittingly held on Oahu where he spent some time and his old ship is now stationed.

Hurley’s maiden voyage as a PGA Tour member wasn’t spectacular but certainly acceptable.  He MDF’d, no that is not an obscenity that would upset the very religious Hurley, it’s when a player makes the 36 hole cut but doesn’t play the weekend because of the 70 player limit.  The good news is he still cashes a check and with two boys and a wife he’ll need to keep cashing them.

The discipline Hurley learned in the military should serve him well on tour as he’ll be tested throughout this season.  But after steering a 10,000 ton destroyer and living in harm’s way, the PGA Tour is easy duty.

Click here for Hurley’s return visit to the U.S.S. Chung-Hoon.

by Jeff Skinner

For centuries the game of golf has been the subject of many a debate. Is it more science than art?  We’ve heard the phrases “the art of the game” or “the science of the game” many times.  Now we literally can see The Art of Golf.  Thanks to the High Museum of Art Atlanta many of the most renowned pieces of art celebrating the game of golf are on now display.

Jack Nicklaus, Andy Warhol, Bobby Jones and Rembrandt: now that’s a dream foursome.  Many of the pieces are centuries old and give us a view of the game at its beginning while others feature many of the games greats.

It is a rare occasion that puts all these extraordinary pieces of art together for one exhibit.  For those of us that can’t make it to Atlanta we can see some here.

Being more of a feel player than a technician, I always knew this game was more art than science.

Charles Lee "The Golfers"

Rembrandt's "The Ringball Player"

Click here for The High Museum of Art Atlanta

by Jeff Skinner

The Sony Open is the first full field event for the PGA Tour and the first opportunity for all those new faces to strut their stuff and prove they belong on tour.  One of those fresh faces is Bud Cauley and he is picking up right where he left off last year.

Cauley,21 turned pro just before the U.S. Open last year after earning All-American honors at Alabama for three years and then starring on the 2009 Walker Cup.  He avoided Q-School and earned his card last season by earning enough prize money to qualify in just eight tournaments.  He became only the seventh player to earn his card that way joining Gary Hallberg, Scott Verplank, Phil Mickelson, Justin Leonard, Tiger Woods and Ryan Moore.  He made seven cuts and finished in the top ten twice with his best being a third at The Frys.com Open where his check for $340,000 put him on the tour this season.

Cauley was having fun yesterday at The Sony Open as he carded eight one putts on his way to a four under 66 and a tie for fifth.  This is a kid that likes to have fun and if he could play a round with his “Dream Foursome” it looks like it would be a riot.  His Dream Foursome would consist of Megan Fox, Carrie Underwood and Jack Nicklaus.  Now I’d pay money to see that.

by Jeff Skinner

When Mike Whan took over as commissioner of the LPGA Tour to say the task he faced was monumental was an understatement.  The LPGA had just suffered through the reign of Carolyn Bivens who has to go down in history as the single worst commissioner of any sport.  The economy tanked and sponsors fed up with Bivens’ heavy handedness were jumping ship.  The LPGA was in dire shape.

Mike Whan isn’t a magician but what he has done during his tenure is downright amazing.  He stopped he disappearing act that was the LPGA Tour.  In 2011 the LPGA was only able to stage 23 tournaments the fewest on tour in nearly 40 years.

This season Whan has worked his magic and there are 27 tournaments slated for the LPGA.  New to the 2012 season are the IPS Handa Australian Women’s Open, The LPGA LOTTE Championship in Hawaii, the Manulife Financial LPGA Classic in Ontario and the Kingsmill Championship at The Kingsmill Resort in Virginia and the Jamie Farr Toledo Classic returns after being absent last year.

Combine those five tournaments with the fact that The RR Donnelley Founders Cup will now be paying a real purse and that means there are six new paychecks for the ladies this season.  That’s an additional $7 million in purse money. If that isn’t progress I don’t know what is.

The schedule includes stops in Asia, Europe, Australia, and Mexico in addition to the fifteen in the U.S.  The return to Kingsmill and the reappearance of The Jamie Farr is a welcome sight for the players.  “Going back to Kingsmill, to Jamie Farr, getting those LPGA staples back on the schedule, that’s what we need to do,” said Stacy Lewis. “I think we’re moving in the right direction.”

“It feels like momentum is going in the right direction,” Juli Inkster said. “I see things going forward now instead of backwards. And it’s great that we’re adding American events. I know we are a global tour, but I think it’s important with a U.S. fan base that we add domestic tournaments.”

The LPGA has hit a home run with Mike Whan as commissioner.  From his handling of the Lexi Thompson exemption to his week by week rebuilding of the tour he has done just about everything right.  Whan is the right man for the LPGA and he has accomplished so much in his first two years. The LPGA is in good, skillful hands.

by Jeff Skinner

David Toms must have been in a hurry to get his final round at Kapalua out of the way so he could catch all the pre-game for his beloved LSU Tigers against Alabama.  Toms made it around the Plantation Course, by himself in two hours and thirty one minutes.  Too bad his Tigers were rolled over by the Crimson Tide.

On the contrary, the Jonathan Byrd/Steve Stricker pairing seemed to be taking forever to move over the hills of Kapalua.  Halfway through their round they were a hole and a half out of position.  Maybe Byrd’s lengthy conversations with his caddie over each shot had a bit to do with it.  Combine that with his habit of walking to the green on his chips, after he had the caddie chat and you get slow play.  How does the tour live with this?

It’s only the first tournament of the year and I am sick of The FedEx Cup already.  Do we really need to know the FedEx Cup standings after one tournament.  The Golf Channel makes the FedEx Cup to be the most dramatic event in golf.  Give me a break, it’s contrived and hardly important to golfers until September.

Tiger has announced that he’ll open his season at The A.T.&T. Pebble Beach Pro-Am.  That’s good news for the tour, the fans and Tiger.  But let’s not think Tiger is doing this for anyone but himself.  A.T.&T. sponsor’s Tiger’s tournament in July and there is still a connection there even though they dropped off his bag endorsement.  Tiger is all about the “Benjamins” that is the cash the deal, the dollars.

First Greg Norman and now Phil Mickelson have committed to the Humana Challenge, formerly the Bob Hope Classic.  President Clinton’s Foundation is a partner of the tournament and he still has some juice as he has called in some of his buddies to pump up the struggling tournament.

So Lucas Glover gets hurt paddle boarding and Paul Casey is injured while taking a snowboarding class.  That’s a tough break for both golfers but it does show that these guys are human and do occasionally act like everyday people.

Hawaii, whether you’re there in person or just watching it on TV, never gets old.

True to form, Steve Stricker shed a few tears on the eighteenth at The Tournament of Champions.  That never gets old either.

Stricker earned 38 World Golf Ranking Points for winning The Tournament of Champions.  Tiger Woods received 44 points for beating the 18 man field at The Chevron.  I am the only one that thinks there is something wrong with that?  Come on guys get this points thing right.