#51: It's a Funny Thing...
Arnold Palmer and comedian Bob Hope were good friends, but Palmer’s relationship with Hope’s golf tournament might have been even better.
Arnie won the inaugural Palm Springs Desert Classic in 1960, shooting a final-round 66 to take the winner’s prize of $12,000 in the tournament that would soon be named the Bob Hope Desert Classic. Palmer won there in 1962, 68 and 71 as well, and in 1973, coming from behind with a bogey-free 69 on the last day, Palmer won his last PGA Tour event and brought his Bob Hope total to five—or was it six? Before the Desert Classic the tournament was known as the Thunderbird Invitational, and Palmer won the last of those in 1959, proving without a doubt that he had a talent for finding gold in the desert.
