Sponsor employs caution wisely

Blowing around in the wind at the Bob Hope golf tournament Sunday was a lot more than poor Steve Stricker’s errant tee shots.

Just as the desert wind of La Quinta huffed and puffed and blew last-round leader Stricker’s title chances down, so did the winds of change gush forth omens for the 2009 pro golf tour.

This is the 50th year of this event. It is an annual showcase of the desert in January. It features blue skies, palm trees, players in short sleeves rooted on by fans in shorts, and TV ratings driven by people avoiding the snow banks in the East and Midwest.

Since the mid-1960s, Chrysler has been a major sponsor. Since the mid-1980s, Chrysler has been the title sponsor.

This year, Chrysler was here, but almost hard to find. Much of the signage called the event “the Bob Hope Classic.” That’s what the Golf Channel called it, as did satellite radio, clearly by request. Many of the signs and promotions were built around a tribute to Arnold Palmer, the host of this year’s event and its winner five times, including the first year, 1960.

As it turns out, honoring Palmer was not only deserved, but handy. Attention could be spun toward him and away from Chrysler. Who would question that? Who would even notice?

Who would notice, or know, that there were no Chrysler executives around, that the 30 Chrysler dealers who won a contest to play as amateurs in the tournament came and played, but paid their own way?

Who would notice, or even pay attention, when the final ceremony on No. 18 for winner Pat Perez did not include the usual executive from the title sponsor making a speech? No reason to question that when Palmer himself was there to handle things.

Only a few might have noticed that there were no Chryslers displayed in prominent places around the course; especially none in that traditional middle-of-the-lake spot for maximum TV exposure.

This was the way it was at the 2009 Bob Hope Classic because Chrysler did it right.

Yes, read that again. Praise for one of those big, arrogant corporations that we now perceive to be a leading reason for our country’s current economic mess, as well as for our neighbors’ move to Trailer Park, Texas, and for our 401(k)s becoming 201(k)s.

Just last week, Chrysler accepted another $1.5 billion of our tax money as part of an ongoing government bailout. That brings its total to $24.9 billion. That also gave the auto manufacturer a perception nightmare when it came to sponsoring a golf tournament at a wealthy resort.

So Chrysler did the right thing. It paid all its bills to the tournament, nearly $2 million of it already disbursed to charities in the Palm Springs area, and waved no flags while doing so.

At a time when other corporations took big gobs of our tax money and then threw expensive parties, redecorated executive offices or paid fat bonuses, Chrysler took a low profile.

John Foster, president and chairman of the tournament, said there was no master plan to take this direction.

“It was not organized,” he said. “It was just obvious, as we talked on the phone about setting things up here, that they had no time, that they are all busy.”

Also, he said, that Chrysler wanted to send a proper message, and that the company thought it was fitting to tame things down about it and stress the presence of Palmer.

“They 100% lived up to their commitments,” Foster said, adding that the tournament has a contract with Chrysler through next year and that, this spring, Chrysler has a window of exclusive negotiation opportunities for an extension of that deal.

Of course, nobody knows whether there will even be a Chrysler next year, or beyond.

Which also speaks to a golf tour that, for as long as most can remember, has lived richly off the fat of corporate sponsorship.

In the months ahead, the PGA Tour has several events sponsored by automakers and financial institutions.

Some of those are existing on the strength of our tax dollars, which raises the question of whether we want those dollars paying for cocktail parties and corporate hobnobbing at plush country clubs.

Chrysler did it right. It just said no. It set the template.

Golf, like the people who pay its bills, has been fat and flush for a long time. Stricker, one of the nicest guys on the tour, shot the second-worst round of the day Sunday, but his 77 still allowed him to take home $295,800. That will soothe some of his hurt.

But numbers like that will also get the attention of the people in the boardrooms who write the checks.

They need to do business, to market and brand. But they need to do it with an eye toward the current realities and public perception.

At the Bob Hope Classic, that was handled properly. Chrysler didn’t blow it.

--

bill.dwyre@latimes.com