At first glance, George Lopez might seem the most unlikely of choices to take the job as host of the Bob Hope Chrysler Classic, which teed off this week in Palm Springs, Calif.

Then again, you might be like me and not really know Lopez, who is the only confirmed, big-name celebrity at the moment for the FBR Open.

For those who have forgotten, Hope died four years ago at the age of 100. He was red, white and blue through and through — a fairly conservative Republican who hung out with U.S. presidents and CEOs and told jokes that avoided profanity.

Lopez on the other hand is Hispanic, liberal-minded, gets a little raunchy with his humor at times, relates more to the working class, and hangs out with actors and athletes like Ray Romano and Oscar de la Hoya.

Yes, Hope and Lopez are almost as different as night and day except for three similarities — their love of people, comedy and the game of golf.

Had you told me a year ago that Lopez would be taking Hope’s place in the annual event now called “the Bob Hope Chrysler Classic hosted by George Lopez,” I would have thought you were crazy.

Maybe Bill Murray or Kevin Nealon, but not a Mexican-American in a community like Palm Springs, which is basically older and white.

What I didn’t know was that Lopez was born and raised in the Palm Springs area, and that Hope was actually a role model for Lopez.

Oh, yes, and in a world where it’s difficult to ever get your friends to commit to a celebrity golf game for five straight days on television, Lopez has the “power’’ to motivate his buddies much the same as Hope did in his heyday.

“I became almost like Don King,” Lopez said, when asked about his first year on the job.

“All I talked about was promoting golf and promoting the Hope, and bringing it back to where it was when Bob had it and it was really flying high.

“Unfortunately, a lot of those guys are gone, but I think there’s a whole new list of guys that I brought last year . . . and they’re more receptive to playing in a celebrity rotation.”

Lopez lured the likes of Romano, de la Hoya, Nealon, Jimmy Kimmel, Andy Garcia, Justin Timberlake, Alice Cooper, Kenny G, Michael Bolton, Samuel Jackson, Don Cheadle, Huey Lewis, Cheech Marin, Carson Daly and Chris O’Donnell.

Lopez even talked Clint Eastwood out of retirement, which might have been the coup de grace since “Dirty Harry” hadn’t played in the Hope in 14 years.

Most of them returned this year, and we’re happy to report that the tournament is flourishing under Lopez’s leadership.

He credits a series of parties he threw last year “every night of the tournament’’ as being the linchpin.

“Roger Clemens, who is a man’s man, came up to me and hugged me and said, ‘This is the greatest party ever,’ ” recalled Lopez, who played in the FBR Open last year and then partied all night at the Bird’s Nest.

“I thought that was a great compliment — man-on-man contact. So Don Cheadle and I, and Samuel Jackson and Cheech, we’re sitting around and we all agreed that Bob Hope and Frank Sinatra would be very pleased with the outcome of that party.’’

Getting the biggest names in golf isn’t quite as easy for Lopez as it once was for Hope.

This time around, he lost Phil Mickelson, who had been a “regular’’ up until his schedule got loaded down with big-money events at the end of the season.

But Lopez took Lefty’s “diss’’ in stride.

“I remember the year I hosted the World Golf Hall of Fame induction ceremony and Vijay (Singh) got in,” Lopez said.

“I said his induction came with an automatic invitation to the Bob Hope, and then Vijay got up and said his schedule didn’t allow him to attend.

“But I’ll do what I have to. I’ll chip away at them one crazy guy at a time. I may even go down to the Target World Challenge (next year) with a sandwich board sign and just walk the fairways.”

This week, the World Golf Hall of Fame announced that Bob Hope is the first non-professional to have his own exhibition at the game’s sanctuary in St. Augustine, Fla.

It is appropriately titled, “Shanks for the Memory.’’

We can thank George Lopez for keeping that memory alive, too. While others like Bing Crosby and Dinah Shore lost their celebrity tournaments almost the minute they died, Hope has managed to live on with a little help from Lopez and his friends.

“It will always have his name on it,’’ promised Lopez, who once lived about three blocks away from Hope in Toluca Lake.

“If Bob was looking down, he would probably say, ‘I’ll tell you what, that boy can really throw a party.’’’

And as we all know, sometimes the party is the best part of golf.