New Classic Club May Be Special on Hope’s Menu

There’s a new player at the $5-million Bob Hope Chrysler Classic and it’s a golf course, the Classic Club. It’s just on the other side of Interstate 10 in Palm Desert, where the scores are expected to follow tradition and go as low as the desert floor -- assuming you know which way the putts break.

Toward Indio, as everyone says?

Not really, said comic George Lopez, who played a practice round Tuesday at the Classic Club and will be in the celebrity pro-am field.

“The putts break toward the diamond lane on the freeway here,” he said. “I had a putt break toward the call box. And I missed a two-footer because a guy was changing his tire in my line.”

Because this is the Hope, chances are there will be five rounds of golf in the fast lane once again.

Justin Leonard is the defending champion in the 47th edition of the tournament, starting today, and the 7,305-yard Classic Club is the host site in the four-course rotation, along with Bermuda Dunes, PGA West and La Quinta Country Club.

The Arnold Palmer-designed Classic Club, which can be stretched to 7,600 yards, features 30 acres of water that touches 13 holes and a 564-yard finishing hole that calls for a second shot over water to an elevated green.

The prevailing wind is going to be a problem, but Sean O’Hair figured he and the other pros could adjust.

“The greens are just perfect,” he said, “so it’s going to be a good week for scoring, I think.”

That would be the Hope, which seems to be turning a corner in its long and rich history. This week’s tournament is the last on network television for at least six years as a result of the PGA Tour’s new TV deal that will move it to the Golf Channel in 2007.

It might also be the last tournament for the Palmer Course at PGA West, or Bermuda Dunes, but nothing has been decided yet for the 2007 Hope, because of the unsettled situation involving SilverRock Resort.

That course, owned by the City of La Quinta, was to have joined the Hope rotation, possibly in place of Bermuda Dunes, but the tournament and SilverRock have not nailed down their agreement. Meanwhile, the Hope’s one-year contract extension with PGA West is expiring, so that arrangement is also unsettled.

“We haven’t made any decisions past this year,” said Steve Morton, the Classic president and tournament chairman.

Whatever happens next year isn’t going to detract from the debut of the Classic Club, a 225-acre project owned by the tournament. Built by the H.N. and Frances C. Berger Foundation, the course was given to the tournament to help with its charitable causes.

The layout is part of a nearly 650-acre tract, the rest of the property having been sold by the Berger Foundation to developers who plan a hotel, time-shares and condominiums. Estimates of the cost of the golf course run in the $30 million to $40 million range, comparable to new courses in the Coachella Valley.

The new course isn’t even officially open to the public, but the pros will get to test it first. They will see the steel framework of a 60,000 square-foot clubhouse and a layout that tournament officials believe will hold up to the rigors of tournament play.

Morton pointed out that the tournament had been involved in the design, which features challenging ninth and 18th holes -- both par-five water holes.

Also important to tournament officials was the parking of spectators’ cars on site, instead of using buses to shuttle them from remote parking areas, and to ensure that the greens at the ninth and 18th be viewed easily from bleachers and from the hospitality venues.

Morton said the Classic Club was fan-friendly and that he expected attendance to reflect that.

“It’s no secret attendance on the PGA Tour [is flat] and we think we can break that trend,” he said.

First, though, organizers have to persuade the pros to come, and that seems to be a problem this year. Third-ranked Phil Mickelson is the only player entered among the top 10, and 19th-ranked Davis Love III is the only other entry among the top 20 in the field of 128 pros. Mickelson plans to play six of the next seven weeks, skipping the Nissan Open at Riviera.

The absentees this week may leave the door open for someone.

“I’m sure some guys are thinking that,” O’Hair said.

“Now, obviously, you think about, well, Tiger [Woods], Vijay [Singh], some of the better players aren’t here. But Phil’s here and he’s not too shabby.

“To be honest with you, if the best players or every single player that was No. 1, No. 2, No. 3, if everybody was here, I guarantee you, it would still be the same winning score on Sunday.

“Somebody is going to be feeling it this week and somebody is going to go real low. It doesn’t matter who is here.”

What matters this week, is where they’re playing. It’s a different direction for the Hope, a change in course that puts them on a new track for the first time in years.

*

This week

PGA TOUR

Bob Hope Chrysler Classic

* When: Today-Sunday.

* Where: Palm Desert.

* Courses: The Classic Club at Northstar (7,305 yards, par 72), Arnold Palmer Private Course at PGA West (6,930 yards, par 72), La Quinta Country Club (7,060 yards, par 72) and Bermuda Dunes Country Club (6,927 yards, par 72).

* Purse: $5 million (winner’s share: $900,000).

* TV: USA (today-Friday, 4-6 p.m., delayed); Channel 7 (Saturday, Noon-3 p.m.; Sunday 12:30-3:30 p.m.).

* 2005 winner: Justin Leonard.

*

CHAMPIONS TOUR

MasterCard Championship at Hualalai

* Site: Kaupulehu-Kona, Hawaii.

* Schedule: Friday-Sunday.

* Course: Hualalai Resort Golf Club (7,097 yards, par 72).

* Purse: $1.7 million. Winner’s share: $287,000.

* Television: The Golf Channel (Friday, 4:30-7 p.m.; Saturday, 4:30-7:30 p.m.; Sunday, 4:30-7 p.m.).

* BOB HOPE CLASSIC TEE TIMES D8