Linda Hope: 'There's Bob Hope all over this tournament'

The Coachella Valley's PGA golf tournament may have lost its long-time name, but the championship trophy for the Humana Challenge has been named after the late Bob Hope. 

The 25-pound glass trophy, which was unveiled Thursday morning, honors the entertainer and was designed to embody the spirit of a healthy lifestyle surrounding the inaugural Humana Challenge.

Linda Hope, daughter of the entertainer, said she approves of the name change of the former Bob Hope Classic.

"He would be thrilled and so happy to see the energy has come back to the tournament and back to this community that he loved so much," Linda Hope said of her father.

She praised Humana and the Clinton Foundation, and said peole often come up to her asking about the lack of her father's name in the title.

"There's Bob Hope all over this tournament, and his spirit is here and energy and it's what I think he would be most proud of," Linda Hope said.

Humana chose the design of Kentucky artist Kenneth von Roenn for the Bob Hope Memorial Trophy. It stands two feet tall and eight inches in diameter.

Five copies were made in all. One will go to the winner of the $1 million purse at the Humana Challenge, two more will go to Humana and the Clinton Foundation and a fourth will go to the World Golf Hall of Fame. The fifth will be on display at Einsenhower Medical Center in Rancho Mirage.

The first round of the tournament kicked off Thursday morning at all three courses -- the Palmer Private at PGA West, the La Quinta Country Club and the Nicklaus Private at PGA West -- with professional and amateur play.