Hope pinned on celebrities to help revive PGA stop

By Brian Hilderbrand

Friday, Feb. 15, 2008 | 2 a.m.

Prior to the start of the Bob Hope Chrysler Classic last month, Southern California columnists were pondering whether the celebrity pro-am was a dying breed on the PGA Tour.

After all, the venerable tournament that at one time drew some of the strongest fields outside of a major did not have one player who was ranked among the top 20 in the world. To add insult to injury, few top celebrities participated in this year’s event.

It’s no secret that today’s touring pros don’t like to mix business with pleasure — that is to say, they don’t fancy trying to earn a paycheck while playing three or four days with amateurs (no matter how rich and famous they might be).

The ink on those columns barely had dried before the PGA Tour headed up the California coast for last weekend’s AT&T Pebble Beach National Pro-Am. The celebrity-studded tournament, by most accounts, drew near-record crowds and was a rousing success even without the presence of resident funny man Bill Murray. Still, more and more elite professionals are skipping that event as well, as only four of the world’s top 20 players were in the field.

(By contrast, eight of the top 10 and 17 of the top 20 players in the world are in Southern California this weekend for the Northern Trust Open — a noncelebrity event — at Riviera Country Club.)

Officials of the local PGA Tour stop announced late last year that they would adopt a celebrity pro-am format beginning with this October’s event in an attempt to breathe new life into a tournament that has struggled to attract spectators and top-ranked players in recent years. Is that a smart idea considering the trouble the two most prominent celebrity pro-ams are having luring world-class players?

Mark Gardner, the new tournament director of the Justin Timberlake Shriners Hospitals for Children Open, thinks it is.

“In my experience, it was always a challenge to get people to come out as opposed to going to a restaurant or playing slots or whatever,” said Gardner, who worked for the local tournament from 1999 to 2001 before moving to Connecticut to serve as assistant tournament director for the Travelers Championship PGA Tour event.

“Having the Justin Timberlake name on it, having him as a host and having that celebrity component mixed into this market ... I’m confident it’s going to be successful.”

One thing that will separate the Las Vegas tournament from other celebrity pro-ams, tournament Chairman Gary Davis pointed out, is that the celebrities will be playing with the professionals only on Wednesday, when the PGA Tour players’ scores aren’t counted.

“It’s a changed format from recent years, especially going to the traditional PGA Tour format with professional players only Thursday through Sunday, so we’re hoping that the change and having a pro-celebrity fun tournament on Wednesday will be an attraction to players, celebrities and fans,” Davis said.

Not having celebrities playing during the professional portion of the tournament was as important to Timberlake, Gardner said, as it was to tournament officials. During a recent conference call with tournament organizers, Timberlake told of playing in another celebrity tournament and recounted his embarrassment when some of his adoring fans began causing a commotion while his professional playing partner was in the middle of his backswing.

“That really sent a message to us that he understands it’s about the PGA Tour players and this is their livelihood and let’s provide the absolute best experience for the players — and then you mix in a celebrity component and everybody wins,” Gardner said.

Timberlake “gets it. He understands it’s a PGA Tour event and that it’s the players who move the needle and it’s about providing a world-class experience for the players.”

Which, tournament officials hope, will lead to more world-class players returning to Las Vegas.