The PGA Tour announced today that its tournament in La Quinta, Calif., has been renamed the Humana Challenge to reflect the new eight-year title sponsorship announced in April. The event had been called the Bob Hope Classic since '65. The new arrangement follows the partnership struck between the Tour, Humana, event organizer Desert Classic Charities and the William J. Clinton Foundation. In addition to the name change, the Humana Challenge will offer a new format in '12. The tournament will be trimmed from five days to four, with the first three played in the traditional Pro-Am format (THE DAILY).
Sources said that the "issue of the event's name has been contentious and a decision was not made until Wednesday, with continual negotiations between Humana, the Clinton Foundation, the Hope and Tour staffers" (GOLFWEEK.com, 6/29). PGA Tour Commissioner Tim Finchem: "We're going to take the week of the historic Bob Hope Classic and talk about wellness issues. ... We want to use the tournament to tell the story of what we could be doing with wellness" ("Morning Joe," MSNBC, 6/30).
