In the past Bob Hope, Bing Crosby, Andy Williams, Sammy Davis Jr., and Glen Campbell lent their name and celebrity to professional golf tournaments as celebrity hosts.

Bob Hope has been replaced over the years by Humana and Bing Crosby was replaced by corporate giant AT&T. 

Since 2008 Justin Timberlake had been the celebrity host for the Shriners Hospitals for Children Open in Las Vegas.  The tournament has decided to drop Timberlake after this year.

An entertainment celebrity is expected to bring a higher quality field, increased publicity value and more Zing.  Evidently Justin didn’t bring the Zing.

Timberlake is a well known and highly recognizable face but the problem is how to adequately quantify the value that a high priced celebrity brings to your event.

Rumor has it that the Shriners would have liked Justin to be more involved with their kids and hospitals.  He did put on a dynamite concert every year at the event but you know what they say once you’ve seen three or four Justin Timberlake concerts….well you get the picture.

Timberlake is a avid golfer and had petitioned the PGA Tour to get a more prominent spot in the tour schedule.  A slot prior to the FedEx Cup Playoffs was preferable.  The Shriners as a Fall Series event was basically an extended qualifier for professionals below 125 on the money list trying to secure their card for next season and avoid the dreaded Q-School.  

The PGA Tour already has a full schedule and with the new wrap around scheduling beginning next year the Shriners will now be able to offer FedEx Cup points to its players which alone should help draw a better quality of golfer.

I’m not too worried about Timberlake, however, somehow I’m pretty sure he will land on his feet and be able to weather the storm.

In addition to being a singer-songwriter of some renown he also has his own line of clothing, a chain of restaurants, stars in the occasional movie, and even dates the odd starlet from time to time.

We should all have it so rough.