TheBakersfieldCalifornian.com

Bob Hope would be happy.

The old Bob Hope Desert Classic has had its struggles the past couple of years after Chrysler backed away from title sponsorship and the field became watered down after many of the top players skippped the tournament.

This year, things have changed, and with a new format, new sponsorship and renewed vigor, the tournament with the celebrities and the amateurs appears to be headed back in the right direction.

The Humana Challenge, in partnership with the Clinton Foundation, has committed eight years to the tournament and Act 1 started in La Quinta where the professional field of 144 players will be playing three centrally located courses and 72-holes, down from the forme four-course, 90-hole format.

That's what the PGA Tour players told the folks who run the tournament that they would like to see changed and those folks listened. And they have been rewarded with a nice field that includes the likes of Phil Mickelson, Greg Norman, Anthony Kim, Dustin Johnson, Zack Johnson, Matt Kuchar and the last two years winners -- Bill Haas in 2010 and Jhonattan Vegas last year.

Yes, there will be celebrities, but the focus is on the golf tournament and after all it is a PGA Tour event and that is really what people want to see, top notch golf with a quality field.

"We are delighted and privileged to host such an accomplished field of players and personalities this year," said Tournament Chairman Larry Thiel in a press release. "The format changes have certainly sparked interest among the PGA Tour players and our spectators are in for a real treat."

Each of the 144 players will be paired with a different amateur for each of the first three rounds that will determine the amateur winner. The pros will then play by themselves in the final round after a cut for the top-70 and ties after 54 holes.

On Saturday, former President Bill Clinton will be playing in the field on the Palmer Private Course at PGW West. He will team with Greg Norman, while the other pairing will be La Quinta resident and 3-time tour winner Scott McCarron and Humana Chairman and CEO Mike McCallister. The other two courses in the rota include the Nicklaus Private Course at PGA West and the La Quinta Country Club.

The $5.6 million dollar purse will award $1.008 million to the winner, both the largest in the tournament's history. The field includes 20 tour rookies, eight of whom made it through the grueling 108-round Q-School finals in La Quinta late last year.

The only thing left to do now is plan your trip to the desert this weekend to check out the tournament. You can get a daily pass at the gate to any of the three courses, or you can get a tournament pass that will allow you access to all the courses for all of the days. You can still get tickets online at humanachallenge.com. The proceeds benefit the charities of the Coachella Valley and the Eisenhower Medical Center. Enjoy your trip!

The Mental Approach

Sports in general involve a tough mental approach to be successful, but more so in the game of golf where you don't have anything moving in the environment, crowd distractions and no teammate(s).

Tee to Green received an e-mail recently from StayInTheZone, a concept of relaxed aggression by sports pyschotherapist Dr. Jay Granat. Granat has developed many tools, strategies and techniques to help not only golfers but all forms of sports.

Granat uses self-hypnosis, visualization and other mental techniques to get them into the "right frame of mind" as they stand over their ball.

One of those is the relaxed aggression technique. Some golfers are too tense. Some are too aggressive. But if you can get into a relaxed aggressive state you can hit the ball with conviction and authority!

You see this in many swings that look smooth, like Fred Couples, Ernie Els and Sam Snead, yet they are powerful.

Garant has used his techniques since 1978 for athletes in all sports, including pool! Visit stayinthezone.com, and perhaps find something that will help your golf game!

Locally, Mark Garibaldi has helped many local athletes, including top amateur golfers, with their mental approach using The Garo Method. You can find out more about this at mark@thegaromethod.com.

Chip Shots

-- The SCGA tournament season doesn't start for another few weeks but you can start to plan your entry into the plethora of events that the SCGA offers. Up first on the schedule will be the 10th SCGA Foursomes Championship at North Ranch CC in Thousand Oaks on March 26-27. There is no qualifying for this event...The 78th SCGA Amateur Net Championship will be April 9-10 at Industry Hills GC. To get there you must qualify at one of 10 sites from March 12-29 and the entry deadline is Feb.29....The 28th SCGA Mid-Amateur will be April 16-17 at Ranch Santa Fe GC and qualifying will take place at five sites from Mar.15-22. To find out more on these three events and others, simply go the SCGA website at SCGA.org

Tee to Green appears weekly at Bakersfield.com/sports. You can reach Gautney at rgautney@bak.rr.com.