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2B Daily News – Thursday, January 19, 2012 New name and format for former Bob Hope tourney LA QUINTA (AP) — Greg Nor- man hadn't played the Bob Hope Clas- sic since 1986, and he had no plans to return to the Palm Springs desert's venerable tournament until Bill Clin- ton changed his mind. ''I got a phone call I could never say no to, and there's no question about that,'' the Australian veteran said Wednesday. ''We had a very frank conversation about the opportunities and the format, and how the tourna- ment can be resurrected. ... The Bob Hope was such an iconic event. We hate to see events like that disappear.'' After several slow years threatened the future of this famed pro-am, the tournament is back in full swing with a new name, a slicker format and an improved field. The Humana Challenge might have lost Hope, but it gained Clinton — who's at least from a town called Hope. After gaining its first title sponsor in four years, the tournament dropped its fifth day of competition and elimi- nated one venue from its traditional four-course rotation. The field also features far fewer amateur playing partners to annoy the pros, and the purse grew to $5.6 million. The changes are designed to attract bigger names to an event that's been skipped by many players in recent years — even by Anthony Kim, who went to high school in the valley — in favor of a week off or lucrative pay- days overseas. So far, the Humana field is much healthier: Phil Mickelson will start his season here Thursday, as will world No. 8 Dustin Johnson and No. 11 Matt Kuchar. ''Pretty much everything about coming out here, I really enjoy,'' said Kuchar, who usually prepares for most seasons with a few weeks in the desert before the two opening Hawaii tourna- ments. ''This year I felt like the offsea- son was extra-short, and I decided to start my year here instead of in Hawaii, and I'm real excited.'' The tournament also forged a new partnership with the Clinton Founda- tion, which returns a presidential feel to an event once played by Dwight Eisenhower and Gerald Ford, both close friends of Hope. Clinton will play with Norman on Saturday, and his foundation will spend the week pro- moting healthy lifestyles to the Coachella Valley fans. The tournament's revival is wel- come news to those fans who had grown dissatisfied with the decline of an event that traditionally featured movie stars rubbing elbows and trad- ing swing tips with the world's best golfers. ''It's going to bring more people out, and having President Clinton a part of this event is drawing way more attention than it's ever had,'' said Kim, who's sleeping in his childhood bed this week because his parents still live in the area. ''No disrespect to Bob Hope or anybody else, but I see this tournament getting better and better every year.'' After 52 years as a five-round event played over four courses, including the last eight years as the only remaining five-day event on the PGA Tour, the tournament dropped back to a four- round format this year. Players mostly hated the extra day of competition, cit- ing the grind as just one reason many top stars stayed away. The winner gets just over $1 mil- lion from the expanded purse. The pro-am also reduced its field of ama- teurs from over 380 to just 144, with two pros and two amateurs in every group instead of forcing every pro to play with three different amateurs on each of the first four days. ''I think that what kept people from coming maybe in the past was the five days, was the 12 different amateurs,'' said Kuchar, who claims to love the pro-am format in either incarnation. ''It's not for everybody, for sure. I think the new format is much more appealing to everybody.'' The tournament's three courses are among the PGA Tour's easiest tracks, and the tour record for birdies is often in trouble. Defending champion Jhonattan Vegas earned his first PGA Tour victory in his fifth career start last year, winning a playoff with Gary Woodland and 2010 champion Bill Haas. Johnson Wagner, who won the Sony Open last week, also is in the field. The amateur field has been sharply reduced, but Clinton isn't the only duf- fer who will draw a crowd. The field is expected to include Morgan Freeman, Don Cheadle, Julius Erving, Billy Crudup, Smokey Robinson and Hugh Rodham, Clinton's brother-in-law. Tebow played through injuries in playoff loss ENGLEWOOD, Colo. (AP) — Tim Tebow needs more R&R than anyone thought. The Broncos quarter- back played through rib, lung and chest injuries he sustained in Denver's 45-10 loss at New England in the AFC divisional playoffs last weekend. He won't need surgery, is expected to make a full recovery with some down time and his offseason train- ing program shouldn't be affected in any way. ESPN first reported Wednesday that Tebow got hurt on a third-quarter tack- le, then had trouble sleeping because of the pain and underwent an MRI on his chest Monday. Team spokesman Patrick Smyth said that while he couldn't confirm the exact extent or nature of the injuries due to team policy, he acknowledged that Tebow finished the game in considerable pain. Backup Brady Quinn quickly got ready to go into the game after Tebow was hit by Vince Wilfork and Rob Ninkovich, but Tebow stayed in and finished up. ''It's just the physicality of playing football. Some- times you get hit and it can hurt a little bit. But, I wanted to play a lot of the game,'' Tebow said after the game. The outcome had long been decided by the time Tebow got hurt. ''I just wanted to show character. You just continue to fight and it doesn't change who you are, how GS (Continued from page 1B) The Nets have all four of their wins when both play- ers score 20 or more points. ''We played real well off each other,'' said Brooks, who continues to be a major bright spot in what has been a tough season thus far for New Jersey (4- 11). ''Deron was finding me and I was looking for him. Deron was driving and kicking and I was getting it into the paint.'' you play, how you go out there, you should be the same at all times,'' Tebow said. ''That's what I wanted to show, it didn't matter if it was the first play or the last play or you were down by 42. I was going to be the same player and I was still going to give everything I have. Because that's all I have to give.'' Tebow, who had an ice pack on his non-throwing shoulder after the game, wasn't in the locker room during a one-hour media window on Sunday, emerg- ing with a smile from the trainer's room as reporters were filing out as the players streamed to their end-of- season meeting with coach John Fox. Recovery from such injuries can take several weeks, and it's highly unlikely Tebow would be able to play in the Pro Bowl on Jan. 29 if he's selected as a second alternate. On Monday, Broncos boss John Elway declared Tebow the incumbent start- ing QB entering training camp next summer and reit- erated his plan to work with him during the offseason to help polish his passing game. Tebow went 8-5 as the Broncos starter after sup- planting Kyle Orton follow- ing a 1-4 start. He engi- neered a six-game winning streak that included four straight fourth-quarter comebacks that sent Tebow- mania into full pitch. He faded at the end, los- ing his last three starts, ''All I can say about them is, 'Wow!''' Johnson said. The Nets entered the fourth quarter trailing 83- 80, but took control mid- way through the final peri- od with a 12-4 run, keyed by Williams, who had five points in that stretch, including a 3-pointer that made it 105-96 with 3:26 remaining. The Nets held on despite going scoreless for almost three full minutes, to snap their two-game overall los- ing streak and a four-game including one to the Kansas City Chiefs and Orton, but the Broncos backed into the playoffs nevertheless at 8-8 as champions of the mid- dling AFC West. Tebow had the best game of his pro career in the wild card round, when he aver- aged 31.6 yards per comple- tion, the best in the NFL in 40 years, and threw an 80- yard touchdown pass to Demaryius Thomas on the first play of overtime for a 29-23 win over heavily favored Pittsburgh and the league's No. 1 defense. That was Denver's first playoff game in six seasons. While the Broncos brass was delighted at returning to the postseason party a year after a franchise-worst 4-12 season, they said the 35- point loss to the Patriots showed just how far they need to go to return to the AFC's upper echelon. Tebow, who didn't get the first-team snaps during training camp or for the first month of the season, real- izes he has a long way to go himself. ''Just work and improve, fundamentals, understand- ing defenses, footwork, everything,'' he said. Tebow might also have to get accustomed to a new offensive coordinator in 2012. Mike McCoy has interviewed for head coach- ing vacancies in Miami and Oakland. McCoy is a hot com- modity after retooling Den- ver's offense midstream to capitalize on Tebow's unique skill set. He imple- losing streak at home. ''Our fans deserve this,'' Brooks said. ''Hearing them cheer really meant a lot. Sure, we had a day off and slept in our own beds, but the fans helped us out with energy.'' Kris Humphries had 18 points and 15 rebounds for the Nets. The Warriors (5-9), who had their two-game win- ning streak snapped, both on their current road trip, received 30 points from Monte Ellis and 17 from Dorell Wright. ''It's a disappointing loss,'' coach Mark Jackson said. ''We had the game won. Bottom line, if you don't close out quarters or possessions, it will come back to bite you. They out- worked us, beat us on the boards (45-25) and have no excuses. This is a win that we fully expected coming in.'' The Nets shot 50 percent from the floor, 37 percent mented the read-option that turned the NFL on its ear at midseason and resulted in the Broncos soaring to the top of the league in rushing. Tebow ran for 660 yards, most by a quarterback in team history, in the regular season and another 63 in the playoffs, leading to con- cerns among some that he was exposing himself to injury. But Tebow noted that he actually takes glancing blows, if any, from smaller defenders while on the run, making him less vulnerable than when he stays in the pocket and might get sand- wiched by 300-pound line- men. He took every snap for Denver after replacing Orton at halftime Oct. 9 against San Diego. Tebow ran for six TDs in the regular season and one in the playoffs while averag- ing 5.3 yards a carry. But he completed just 46.5 percent of his passes last season and just 40.4 percent in the play- offs. ''We're always looking for balance,'' Elway said. ''Balance is what we won Super Bowls with.'' Elway and Tebow are eager to see what a differ- ence an offseason can make — they didn't have that lux- ury last year during the NFL lockout. ''I feel like I've improved a lot in a lot of different forms of my game,'' Tebow said. ''And I continue to improve and continue to get a lot better, and I believe I can, and I'm looking for- ward to putting in work.'' from 3-point range and a season-best 87 percent from the free throw line. Morrow hit a long 3- pointer as the third quarter buzzer sounded, bringing the Nets to within 83-80. The Warriors scored two straight baskets when Klay Thompson hit a corner jumper to push it to 90-87 with 8:46 left, then Ellis scored on an alley-oop from Thompson off a steal to take a 92-87 lead. But Williams scored six straight points, on a long 3 and then three free throws after being fouled by Thompson, to give the Nets a 93-92 lead with 6:42 left. ''We gave them a dose of what we had been expe- riencing all season, the chance to finish the game,'' said Johnson, whose team has two days off before fac- ing Oklahoma City and Charlotte at home on Satur- day and Sunday. 49ERS (Continued from page 1B) would say he's all over the place. He's a rah-rah guy when he needs to be, and he's also very subtle. Maybe a Shakespeare speech, something like that. He draws inspiration from everywhere.'' Jim has his players buying into a blue-collar mentality, and there are actual blue-collar shirts to fit the theme. Defensive line coach Jim Tomsula wears his regularly around team headquarters. ''It's really been fun to see the sayings that have really grabbed on from the blue-collar aspect,'' Akers said. ''A lot of this country is built on the blue-collar idea.'' Jim Harbaugh always has a story to share. From the one about his uncles who untucked their shirts after a long day's work — he now does the same after each victory — to his own missed opportunity at a Super Bowl, one he fig- ured surely would come again. In the AFC champi- onship game after the 1995 season, the Colts had the ball on the Steelers 29 on third-and-1, but Har- baugh's Hail Mary throw to the end zone went through Aaron Bailey's hands as time expired. Pittsburgh won, 20-16. ''He just tells us to give it all we have, give it all we've got, go out there and just fight, just fight as a team,'' running back Frank Gore said. ''Think about all the bad times we had here and now we have this opportunity and go take advantage of it. That's what we're trying to do.'' If Jim Harbaugh wins Sunday, he'll be headed back to a city where he is still loved despite not coming through that day. His sister, Joani Crean — whose husband coaches at Indiana — still regularly gets stopped by strangers when she travels to Indi- anapolis with their stories about her brother, Jim. Both Harbaughs recall their youths to give exam- ples of what they learned from their coaching father, Jack. During training camp, John Harbaugh talked about sharing one of those tales with his team. ''The guys laughed. They've heard it before, but when you say, 'This is something my dad used to tell me,' boom, it disarms them a little bit. They NHL WESTERN CONFERENCE Pacific Division WL OT Pts GF GA SHARKS 26 12 5 57 125 100 Kings 23 15 9 55 105 105 Dallas 24 19 2 50 122 129 Phoenix 21 18 7 49 120 119 Ducks 15 22 7 37 113 138 Central Division WL OT Pts GF GA Chicago 28 13 6 62 156 135 Detroit 30 15 1 61 149 105 St. Louis 27 12 6 60 116 94 Nashville 26 16 4 56 125 123 Columbus 13 27 5 31 110 149 Northwest Division WL OT Pts GF GA Vancouver 28 15 4 60 151 117 Colorado 25 21 2 52 124 137 Minnesota 22 17 7 51 106 118 Calgary 21 20 6 48 112 133 Edmonton 17 24 4 38 116 131 EASTERN CONFERENCE Atlantic Division WL OT Pts GF GA N.Y.Rangers 29 11 4 62 125 90 Philadelphia27 13 4 58 149 129 New Jersey 26 17 2 54 126 126 Pittsburgh 24 17 4 52 136 117 N.Y. Islanders17 21 6 40 106 134 Northeast Division WL OT Pts GF GA Boston 29 13 1 59 156 88 Ottawa 26 16 6 58 149 150 Toronto 22 18 5 49 139 140 Buffalo 19 22 5 43 114 140 Montreal 17 21 8 42 116 126 Southeast Division WL OT Pts GF GA Washington 25 18 2 52 128 127 Florida 21 14 10 52 115 127 Winnipeg 21 20 5 47 116 133 Tampa Bay 18 23 4 40 126 159 Carolina 16 24 8 40 124 156 NOTE: Two points for a win, one point for overtime loss. —————————————————— Wednesday's results Chicago 6, Buffalo 2 Colorado 4, Florida 3, OT Washington 3, Montreal 0 Phoenix at Anaheim, late Today's games Ottawa at San Jose, 7:30 p.m. Boston at New Jersey, 4 p.m. Minnesota at Toronto, 4 p.m. N.Y. Islanders at Philadelphia, 4 p.m. Pittsburgh at N.Y. Rangers, 4 p.m. Nashville at Columbus, 4 p.m. Edmonton at St. Louis, 5 p.m. Buffalo at Winnipeg, 5:30 p.m. Detroit at Phoenix, 6 p.m. Calgary at Los Angeles, 7:30 p.m. Friday's games Montreal at Pittsburgh, 4 p.m. Washington at Carolina, 4 p.m. Florida at Chicago, 5:30 p.m. Tampa Bay at Dallas, 5:30 p.m. appreciate it,'' he said. John also took part in an NFL-USO coaches tour of the Persian Gulf in 2009 and occasionally calls on military personnel to address the team after practice. In turn, in 2010 he spoke to the Army's 1st Cavalry and attended its team-building sympo- sium. ''Those guys have so much at stake. It's hard for us to even look at it and say it's the same, but when they teach their troops, they make sports analo- gies all the time,'' Har- baugh said. ''I think that's ironic, because we make military analogies all the time.'' His brother has his own methods — and the 49ers have been all in since the start. San Francisco has gone from a 6-10 team last season, one that missed the playoffs for the eighth straight season, to a 14-3 team one win from play- ing for football's biggest prize. He is rah-rah to the core. At the same time, he has been known to sleep at team headquarters while ''honkering down'' as he calls it. Harbaugh orders pizza to team headquarters as he and his staff spend hours in the film room studying opponents. Players walk around wearing T-shirts with Har- baugh's catchphrase ''Who's got it better than us? No-body!'' That one came from his father. ''I'll pick up an article or a news story and you see something in there I'll think, 'Hah, where have I heard that?''' said Jack Harbaugh, whose credo was born in his tiny home- town of Crestline, Ohio. ''I was talking to my cousin, Mike Gottfried .. and he said: 'You know, it's amazing. I can recall that in Crestline back in the early 1950s.' ... Mike says: 'You know what? I can recall that.' We'd be walking out to play. Or we'd be going home at night and we'd look at each other say, 'Who's got it better than us? Noooo- body!' And that was a great life.'' Life will be much sweeter for the close-knit Harbaughs if each brother holds up his end of the bargain Sunday. Then, it will be reunion time in Indy with the world watching. NBA WESTERN CONFERENCE Pacific Division Lakers Clippers Phoenix WL Pct GB 10 5 .667 — 7 4 .636 1 5 9 .357 4.5 WARRIORS 59 .357 4.5 KINGS Southwest Division WL Pct GB San Antonio 10 5 .667 — Dallas Memphis Houston 8 6 .571 1.5 7 6 .538 2 7 7 .500 2.5 New Orleans 3 11 .214 6.5 Northwest Division WL Pct GB Oklahoma City 12 3 .800 — Utah Denver Portland Minnesota 9 4 .692 2 10 5 .667 2 8 6 .571 3.5 6 8 .429 5.5 EASTERN CONFERENCE Atlantic Division Philadelphia 10 4 .714 — New York Boston WL Pct GB 6 8 .429 4 New Jersey 4 11 .267 6.5 Toronto 5 8 .385 4.5 4 11 .267 6.5 Southeast Division WL Pct GB 11 4 .733 — 10 4 .714 .5 9 4 .692 1 3 12 .200 8 Atlanta Orlando Miami Charlotte Washington 2 12 .143 8.5 Central Division Chicago Indiana Cleveland WL Pct GB 13 3 .813 — 9 3 .750 2 6 7 .462 5.5 Milwaukee 4 9 .308 7.5 Detroit 3 12 .200 9.5 —————————————————— Wednesday's results New Jersey 107, Golden State 100 Indiana at Sacramento, late Atlanta 92, Portland 89 Boston 96, Toronto 73 Denver 108, Philadelphia 104, OT Memphis 93, New Orleans 87 Minnesota 93, Detroit 85 Phoenix 91, New York 88 San Antonio 85, Orlando 83, OT Washington 105, Oklahoma City 102 Dallas at L.A. Clippers, late Today's games New Orleans at Houston, 5 p.m. L.A. Lakers at Miami, 5 p.m. Dallas at Utah, 7:30 p.m. Friday's games Sacramento at San Antonio, 5:30 p.m. Indiana at Golden State, 7:30 p.m. Atlanta at Philadelphia, 4 p.m. Denver at Washington, 4 p.m. Portland at Toronto, 4 p.m. Chicago at Cleveland, 4:30 p.m. Memphis at Detroit, 4:30 p.m. Milwaukee at New York, 4:30 p.m. Phoenix at Boston, 4:30 p.m. L.A. Lakers at Orlando, 5 p.m. Minnesota at L.A. Clippers, 7:30 p.m. 410 .286 5.5