Jerry West - yes, Mr. NBA Jerry West - has been named the Executive Director of the Northern Trust Open by the PGA Tour.  This is part of the agreement by which the PGA Tour will basically run the Northern Trust Open in concert with the charitable sponsor, the LA Junior Chamber of Commerce.

Your new Executive Director is a logo likeness.

West's role will be to "raise the profile and charitable impact of one of the most storied events on the PGA TOUR schedule."  In other words, West will be serving as a tournament ambassador the event that had become the face of a showdown between Congress, golf, and golf sponsors that have received federal bailout loans.

West on the role and the tournament:

"The Northern Trust Open is more than a golf tournament. It’s an opportunity to bring all of LA together to make an impact on this great city, to grow the programs associated with the event – those that help children across the city and those that are so desperately needed, especially in these economic times. It’s an honor to become a part of the Northern Trust Open and work to make this event the absolute best in the world."

Let me just say that the PGA Tour is arguably the best in sports at trampling down fires.  They were able to get Arnold Palmer in as the host for the 50th Bob Hope Classic this year knowing that the tournament is slowly dying.  They applied a similar model here and it will likely work.

Unfortunately for Tom Pulchinski - the old Executive Director that was on the show this year - he's out of that position.  But, he will remain with the tournament and handle the relationship between the tournament and the LA Junior Chamber of Commerce.