Justin Timberlake is going to be the celebrity host of the PGA Tour event in Las Vegas.
It will be called the “Justin Timberlake Shriners Hospitals for Children Open.”
Good for him. By all accounts, he loves the game and reportedly plays to a 6-handicap.

From Crosby and Hope to the Gatlin brothers, celebrities have been tied to PGA Tour events for years.
Bing Crosby and Pebble Beach were synonymous, as were Danny Thomas and Memphis, and, of course, Sammy Davis, Jr. and Hartford.

Once a year, Sammy would bring his buddies to Connecticut, and they’d play, on and off the course. They’d put on a show at Wethersfield Country Club, and later, at the TPC. And then they’d put on a bigger and better show at the Bushnell or the Hartford Civic Center. It was Vegas in Connecticut, with Sinatra, Sammy, Jerry Lewis, and Jackie Gleason, among others, taking the stage.

But under the leadership of Deane Beman and Tim Finchem, the PGA Tour went corporate. The big names of show business were replaced by the big names of business in the late 80s and early 90s.

It was the Sammy Davis, Jr.-Greater Hartford Open from 1973 until 1984. Then Canon came in, and it was the Canon-Sammy Davis, Jr.-Greater Hartford Open from 1985 through 1987. And then Sammy was told his presence was no longer needed.

Yes, he could be a major pain in his drinking and drugging years, and sometimes he could barely walk a straight line, much less swing a club. But his last few years with the tournament, he was clean and sober.
I can tell you the man was a joy to work with, because I had the pleasure of hosting a SDJ-GHO special with him.
And for all his fame, he hated losing “his” golf tournament. Before his death in 1990, his wife Altovise told me it broke his heart.

The PGA Tour is hardly about to come full circle, and lose its beloved corporate sponsors.
But I like the idea of a celebrity tie, and I like the idea of Justin Timberlake hosting a tournament.

Like Sammy, this kid can do it all: he sings, dances, acts, and undoubtedly has a better game than SDJ did. He may not have a Sinatra to come in and play with him, but he can always call in SNL’s Andy Samberg for a “boxing” match. (If you don’t get it, ask any SNL fan.)

And I have to believe he’s already helped break a PGA Tour record.
I used to think the “Canon-Sammy Davis, Jr.-Greater Hartford Open” was the longest name ever for a tournament.
But really, the “Justin Timberlake Shriners Hospitals for Children Open” is a mouthful, isn’t it?