January 20 - 24, 1999 Defending Champion: Fred Couples Purse: $3 million Host course: PGA West, Indian Wells CC, Bermuda Dunes CC and Tamarisk CC Where: Palm Springs, Calafornia

Couples and Palmer star at Bob Hope Classic

Who the bookies rate at the Bob Hope Classic

Field for the tournament

David Duval's 59 scorecard and stroke by stroke breakdown

Arnie begins his 45th PGA Tour Season

Arnold Palmer will begin his 45th year in professional golf much like most of the preceding 44--as one of the featured players in the Bob Hope Chrysler Classic, the first full-field tournament of the 1999 PGA TOUR season, a 90-hole tournament that will be played on four desert courses, Jan. 18-24.

The Arnold Palmer Private Course at PGA West is the host course for the 40th annual Hope Classic, an event that draws a field of 128 of the finest golfers in the world along with some of the top celebrities from the worlds of stage, screen, television and sports.

The purse for the 1999 Bob Hope Chrysler Classic has been raised to $3 million and the winner will take home $540,000. Fred Couples, the defending champion, earned $414,000 from the $2.4 million purse in 1998.

Palmer merely shrugs when he reflects on those numbers. The only five-time winner of the event, Palmer's winning check was for $32,000 from a purse of $160,000 when he won his fifth Classic title in 1973 at Bermuda Dunes Country Club.

The purse for the inaugural event, the Palm Springs Golf Classic, in 1960, was $70,000 and Palmer's first-place check was $12,000.

"I can remember what it was like in the early years of this tournament," Palmer said. "When I played in the Thunderbird Invitational, which was the first tournament in the desert, there were only three courses in the Coachella Valley. That was in 1956. Today we have seen the number grow to around 100 courses. The first Desert Classic was held in 1960, and then became the Bob Hope Desert Classic, and then the Bob Hope Chrysler Classic."

"The Classic has meant a lot to the game of golf through its contributions to charity and in making the game popular. I think it's indicative of what has happened in golf. It has gone from the days when we were lucky to have 5,000 fans spread over four courses to having a tremendous fan base."

Palmer admits he may have been born too soon, but has no regrets about his fabulous professional golf career that had its start in 1954. He has become one of golf's icons over the years and always looks forward to starting a new season in the Bob Hope Chrysler Classic.

"The Hope has always been one of my favourite tournaments," Palmer said recently. "Some of my fondest moments in golf have been in that tournament. It is a tournament I always look forward to because I have played those courses well many times and because of all the friends I have there."

In 1973, Palmer was still a force in the Hope Classic. He ended an 18-month winless drought with a dramatic victory at Bermuda Dunes over Jack Nicklaus, who was in his prime, and a young Johnny Miller, who was still a couple of years away from becoming a great desert player.

When Palmer finally made his final putt for a tournament total of 343 and a two-stroke victory over Nicklaus and Miller, the 43-year-old Palmer tossed his visor into the air to begin his celebration. He didn't realise it at the time, but it would also be his last victory on the PGA TOUR.

Palmer shot a score of 22-under-par 338 in winning the first Classic by three strokes over Fred Hawkins in 1960. His score was a record that would last for 25 years.

His second victory was in 1962. Bermuda Dunes was the host course and Palmer shot a 90-hole total of 342 to become the event's first two-time winner.

Victory No. 3, again at Bermuda Dunes, came in 1968 as Palmer defeated Deane Beman in a sudden-death playoff after they had finished the 90 holes tied at 348. Beman missed a chance to win the tournament when a 12-foot putt lipped out, then Palmer won the tournament with a par on the next hole to become the first three-time winner of the Hope.

Palmer needed another playoff, this time against Raymond Floyd, to secure his fourth Hope title in 1971, again at Bermuda Dunes. After tying Floyd with a 90-hole score of 342, Palmer won the the first extra hole with a 25-foot birdie putt to end a 14-month winless drought.

He capped his fantastic run in the Hope with his fifth victory in 1973 in the tournament's 14th year of existence. Besides his five victories, he had two second-place finishes during those early years.

Although he no longer is considered a threat to win the Bob Hope Chrysler Classic, Palmer continues to be the event's most popular player. He continues to play in the event each year with the largest gallery. And, despite the odds and his age (69), Palmer still approaches the event with the same thought he always has when he enters a tournament--to win.

Backed by the Chrysler Corporation, the Bob Hope Chrysler Classic is the first full-field 1999 PGA TOUR event in the continental United States. All net proceeds generated by the tournament are distributed to the Eisenhower Medical Centre and 40 other charities.

Practice rounds for the 1999 Bob Hope Chrysler Classic are Monday, Jan. 18, and Tuesday, Jan. 19, on all four tournament courses--the Arnold Palmer Private Course at PGA West, Bermuda Dunes Country Club, Indian Wells Country Club and Tamarisk Country Club. The celebrity pro-am portion of the tournament runs from Wednesday, Jan. 20, through Saturday, Jan. 23. Only the professionals compete on Sunday, Jan. 24.