Riviera Country Club has reportedly been selected as a surprise host for the 2031 US Open despite generally thought to be too small to accommodate the huge footprint that comes with a men’s Major championship.
Just days after Wyndham Clark was crowned at the 123rd US Open at Los Angeles Country Club, which received mixed reviews as a host, the United States Golf Association (USGA) has reportedly handed their flagship event to Riviera.
The Los Angeles Times reports that members of the club received an email from Riviera chief executive Megan Watanabe revealed that they’d be hosting the 2031 US Open.
“It has been one of my biggest goals to bring back major championships to Riviera since I started working for Riviera, and it truly represents the culmination of a dream that my family has had since acquiring the club in 1989,” the LA Times quotes Watanabe as saying.
Los Angeles Country Club hosted the US Open’s return to LA for the first time in 75 years – when Ben Hogan won the 1948 US Open at Riviera to give the venue it’s nickname of Hogan’s Alley.
It’s a regular host for the Genesis Invitational on the PGA Tour and will also host the US Women’s Open in 2026, but given the type of site Riviera occupies, the size of the property and surrounding area, it was considered too small to host a men’s Major.
However, it seems the USGA feel they can stage their flagship event at Riviera, which is undoubtedly a quality course with a huge heritage, in a similar way to how the event played out at LACC last week.
The US Open had mixed reviews at Los Angeles Country Club
(Image credit: Getty Images)
Just 22,000 tickets were on sale each day for LACC but increased corporate hospitality boxes brought in plenty of earnings, while holding the tournament on the west coast gives the USGA the lucrative prime time audience on the east for their broadcasts to tap in to.
And the 2023 US Open had some impressive viewing figures to use as proof, with the highest final day figures seen since Gary Woodland won in 2019 at Pebble Beach – another west coast major.
Golf Channel’s Rich Lerner also repeated the report, and added he expected some changes to the course at Riviera ahead of staging a US Open.
Riviera has been selected to host the 2031 U.S. Open. Expect #1 to be a par four, #2 to be a five with a softening of 10 green among other tweaks.June 21, 2023
Future US Open sites
If Riviera is confirmed by the USGA that means they’ll have the next 12 US Open venues…
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