LOS ANGELES – Los Angeles had to wait 75 years to get the US Open again and has now become a regular stop. The USGA is bringing the US Open to Riviera Country Club in 2031.
Wednesday’s announcement comes three days after Windham Clark won the US Open at the Los Angeles Country Club, just over 5 miles and across Highway 405 from Riviera.
The legendary course off Sunset Boulevard is the longtime host to what is now the Genesis Invitational, long considered a favorite among the PGA Tour’s top players. Riviera held its first US Open in California in 1948 when Ben Hogan won with a score of 276.
Hogan also won the Los Angeles Open in 1947 and 1948, and Rivera soon became known as “Hogan’s Alley.”
The club is now getting bigger. It will host the US Women’s Open in 2026 on the Riviera’s centenary, and then compete in golf at the 2028 Olympics.
And after 83 years, she finally got the US Open again.
“We are very grateful that the USAF will bring back the US Open for our club in 2031,” said Megan Watanabe, CEO of Riviera. “For six years, we will show our championship cycle to the world.”
Watanabe, whose family bought the Riviera in 1989 and grew up taking golf and tennis lessons at the club as a young girl, has been eyeing major competition ever since her return some 12 years ago. Rivera had not had a major championship since the 1995 PGA Championship and was thought to have had a very small footprint in the modern era.
In a February 2022 interview with the Associated Press, she said she would be offering a “smaller-sized US Open,” and noted that the US Open would go to Merion in 2013.
“Maybe Merion is about the same size as us,” Watanabe said. “My thinking is they can do it, and I think we can do it.”
It’s another example of the USGA’s willingness to take golf’s second-oldest tournament to courses that don’t necessarily have the acreage of Oakmont, Pebble Beach, or Pinehurst.
The USGA limited ticket sales to 22,000 for Los Angeles Country Club’s North Course, due to barranca spinning on half of the holes that made it difficult for fans to turn on either side of the fairway from tee to green in some areas.
“Riviera Country is a truly amazing course that holds a special place in the history of the game,” said John Bodenhammer, chief tournament officer for the American Collegiate Athletic Association.
Rivera held the PGA Tour stop for the 59th time in February. She has the oldest scoring record of 72 holes on the PGA Tour – Lanny Wadkins with 264 in 1985.
Designed by George C. Thomas Jr., Riviera is known for its kikoya turf, the accessible 10th hole, the bunker located in the middle of the green on the 3rd and 6th par and the State Clubhouse on a high hill.
The club started on Tuesday with minor modifications to the 10th green (lowering the right hand side slightly due to years of sand buildup from bunkering) and the 15th green (extending the right hand side to allow for pin placement).
The waterways are lined with sycamore and eucalyptus trees. The most famous sycamore remaining from the 12th green was named the “Bogie Tree”, because Humphrey Bogart would sit under it and watch the golfers pass by.
Unlike the Los Angeles Country Club, which shunned the Hollywood crowd, Rivera was a haven for celebrities like Bogart, Gregory Peck, Walt Disney, Dean Martin and Katharine Hepburn.
The Los Angeles Country Club will host the US Women’s Open in 2032 before the US Open returns in 2039. Rivera now opens in 2026 and 2031, along with the Olympics.
The only two majors Rivera has held since Hogan’s victory in 1948 are the PGA Championship in 1983 won by Hal Sutton and in 1995 won by Steve Elkington. Hale Irwin won her first US Open in Riviera in 1998.