Larry Bohanan of the Desert Sun has a list of his five favorite stories from the “Hope.” Bohannan has covered sports for 20 years in Palm Springs.

Over the last couple of days, I’ve run across a slew of editorials from various communities that have been cut out of the new PGA Tour schedule. The Binghampton paper was grasping at straws, hoping that the PGA would at least grant them a Champions Tour event. A columnist at The Toronto Star seemed genuinely angry at the horrible placement of the Canadian Open. And an article in the Briston Press talks about the simultaneous loss of the Buick Open’s summertime spot, and it’s title sponsor.

There also were many, many more that I won’t enumerate here.

I’m sure that the PGA Tour has done its calculations. And I’m sure that replacing (or moving to an irrelevant spot) some of the “smaller” tournaments is the best way to increase revenues for the current contract. And I know that stripping tournaments of their traditional names for the names of corporate sponsors pays off (How long before the players travel to Irving, Texas to play in the International Cell Phone Company Open, never knowning that it once was the Byron Nelson).

But I wonder if the PGA Tour isn’t sacrificing it’s long term health for short term gains.

I can’t help but think that some of these “second tier” events—with their army of dedicated volunteers and strong community commitment—are one of the current strengths of the Tour. These events have character, and the people in those communities genuinely care about the tournaments, and PGA Tour golf. Selling out that bedrock for ever higher dollars doesn’t seem like a good long term strategy to me.

When, somewhere down the line, Big Box cancels its sponsorship of the MegaMart Championship at the Entirely Manufactured Golf Club in the City of the Week, no one is going to care. And when the PGA Tour moves that event to another city, and renames it the MultiCorp Shipping and Packing Championship at the Soulless Corporately Designed Fake Links, no one is going to notice.

Add the Canadians to the list of people who are upset with the PGA Tour’s 2007 schedule. The 100-year-old Canadian Open finds itself in an awkward position: four days after the British Open, the week before the World Golf Championships Bridgestone event and two weeks out from the PGA Championship.

Given that, its unlikely that they’ll get a top field.

Dave Perkins of the Toronto Star has a scathing editorial on this one.

David Duval shot his lowest score in three years Sunday, with a 62 at Waialae Country Club.

Is the Enigma back?

I hope so. It’d be fun to watch.

Add Paul Azinger to the list of people whose reactions to the new PGA Tour schedule run the gamut from indifferent to angry.

Azinger told Sports Illustrated that he doesn’t believe that players will care much about the FedEx Cup.

“The best players in the world are playing to make history,’’ Azinger said. “There are only four tournaments you can win to make history, and TPC (The Players Championship) is not one of them. And neither are those world events. And you’re not going to make history winning some kind of FedEx Cup.’’

You can’t however, discount the fact Azinger’s reaction may have something to do with the fact that—thanks to the new deal—he’s out of a broadcasting job.

An editorial in the Greater Binghampton, NY Press and Sun Bulletin offers a glimpse into what a PGA Tour event can mean to a community—in this case, the BC Open. The BC has found itself eliminated from the 2007 PGA Tour schedule in favor of an event with a major corporate sponsor, which the BC didn’t have.

The PGA Tour did, however, hold out a carrot. Its possible that the BC could become a Champions Tour event—if it could find a corporate sponsor, which may be difficult considering that its opposite the Open Championship.

Among the interesting changes to the 2007 PGA schedule being announced were that Washington, D.C. has been moved to second tier status, and that an event called the Mayakoba Classic will be played in Mexico.

I don’t know if insulting Washington, D.C. is a good idea. You never know when you’re going to need a congressman or ten in your pocket. And a prime time PGA event in the Nation’s Capital was surely a prime time to wine and dine them. I remember working at a tournament at Avenel one year—you couldn’t swing a dead skunk without hitting a member of Congress or the Administration.

And I also noted with sadness the likely demise of the BC Open, which lost its spot opposite the British Open to the US Bank Championship. I always liked that event becuase of its quirky nature—it had character. I always thought that if I was a professional golfer, I would skip the Open Championship and play the BC. With all of the world’s best across the pond, it would be a whole lot easier to win at the BC.