Bob Hope goes the way of Dinah Shore in professional golf

It had to happen sooner or later, and the PGA Tour made it official Wednesday when it announced it had changed the name of the Bob Hope Classic to the Humana Challenge.

With naming rights the name of the game in all professional sports (extra credit if you can name the teams that play at Petco Park, Gillette Stadium, or Arco Arena), it should come as no surprise to golf fans that Hope has gone the way of Dinah Shore.

When Shore’s name disappeared from the marquee in 2000 to make way for the "Nabisco Championship," it was like a slap in the face to many long-time LPGA fans. The popular singer and actor founded the tourney in 1972 and watched as the annual tilt at Mission Hills Country Club in Rancho Mirage, Calif., became one of the LPGA’s four major championships in 1983.

Arnold Palmer (l.) and Bob Hope examine a bent driver during the filming of the Hope movie Call Me Bwana in 1962 (Photo: Keystone/Getty Images)

While we’re unlikely to see the Five Guys Masters at Augusta National any time soon, tour honchos Tim Finchem and Mike Whan will gladly pump up the egos of their sponsors by giving them top billing at any event. That doesn’t mean fans have to like it. To this day, golf officialdom may call it the Kraft Nabisco Championship if that makes the corporate bigwigs happy, but the first major on the LPGA schedule will always be the Dinah Shore to many. 

For old time’s sake, here’s a look at the tourney names of the Dinah:

• 1972-1980: Colgate-Dinah Shore Winner's Circle
• 1981: Colgate-Dinah Shore
• 1982: Nabisco Dinah Shore Invitational
• 1983-1999: Nabisco Dinah Shore
• 2000-2001: Nabisco Championship
• 2002-present: Kraft Nabisco Championship

Hope, an avid golfer, added his name to what was the Palm Springs Golf Classic in 1965. He died in 2003 at the age of 100, while Shore, who became an honorary member of the World Golf Hall of Fame, was just shy of 77 when she passed away in 1994.