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Hoffman matches Palmer at 1st Hope
Congratulations to Charley Hoffman on becoming only the second player ever to win the Bob Hope Chrysler Classic on his first try. He can only hope he eventually matches the success at the Hope of the man whose name he now joins in the record books.
Arnold Palmer won The Hope on his first try in 1960 and went on to win it again in 1962, ‘68, ‘71 and ‘73.
“As my record might suggest, The Hope became one of my favorite spots on tour,” Palmer says.
Perhaps Palmer’s best memory of the tournament has nothing to do with what happened on the course. It was at the Hope in the early 1970s that Palmer was summoned to a mini-summit with President Richard M. Nixon. A U.S. Marine helicopter picked up Bob Hope, Palmer and their spouses and flew them over the mountains to Nixon’s Western White House at San Clemente north of San Diego.
On hand with Nixon was Vice President Gerald Ford, foreign policy adviser Henry Kissinger and a host of top level national security officials. “It seemed the president wanted to pick our brains, of all things, about how to end the war in Vietnam,” Palmer told author James Dodson in the Palmer biography, A Golfer’s Life. When Palmer’s turn came to express his opinion, Palmer sheepishly told the Commander-in-Chief to “get this thing over as quickly as possible, for everyone’s sake. I mean, why not go for the green?”
The golf pro’s advice got a round of laughs from people who were unaccustomed to the levity.
So, again, congratulations to Hoffman. May The Hope be the first of many tour victories and lead to -- who knows? -- presidents seeking your advice on worldly matters.
After all, stranger things have happened.
And congratulations to 1996 Bay Hill Invitational champion Paul Goydos for winning Sunday’s Sony Open in Hawaii. His opportunity to become a repeat champion at Bay Hill begins March 12 at the newly renamed Arnold Palmer Invitational presented by MasterCard.
Posted by crodell at January 23, 2007 10:05 AM