Lopez Out as Hope Host; Arnie Stepping In?

Unceremoniously, the Hopez is no more.

George Lopez's two-year run as host of the Bob Hope Chrysler Classic has come to an abrupt halt, after his name . . . "hosted by George Lopez" . . . was removed from the tournament website.

There is no longer any mention of Lopez on the home page, although his image is still used.

Well, why? After all, Lopez put in a lot of effort to get his Hollywood pals to come play in this event at a course that the players despise.

Tournament President John Foster said the Hope is a couple of weeks away from announcing something different for next year.

"We're trying to bring a special guy out of the hat," he said.

That would probably be Arnold Palmer, who would serve as the host for the 50th anniversary of the tournament, if it all works out. Palmer, 78, won the first edition of the event in 1960.

There is a good chance that this may be a one time deal, especially since the idea is around commemorating 50 years of the event. Then what do you do? Bring Lopez back? Tough one, but it's hard to not take Arnie up on the offer of hosting when the event is going into the toilet quickly...on one of his designs.