Internal OB considered at Riviera Country Club’s 15th hole

PACIFIC PALISADES, Calif. – Viktor Hovland’s alternate route to play the 474-yard par-4 15^th hole at Riviera Country Club down the 17^th hole will remain an option – a risky one at that over an electronic scoreboard meant to discourage players – after the PGA Tour considered installing internal out of bounds as a local rule this week but opted against it.

Instead of a power fade to turn the corner of the doglegged fairway and avoid the fairway bunker, Hovland for the past few years has been the most high-profile player opting to play down the 17^th hole, which runs to the right of it. It’s a move he originally attempted playing at Riviera in the 2017 U.S. Amateur at the suggestion of his former Oklahoma State teammate Zach Bauchou.

When asked in 2022 if it was his game plan to play the hole in this manner regardless of the flag position, Hovland said, “I think so. … It’s a no brainer.”

Yes, he’s at it again. https://t.co/twSPAhUGxI

— Rick Gehman (@RickRunGood) February 14, 2024

Hovland also told Golfweek that his stats maven, DP World Tour pro Edoardo Molinari, advised him that was the best plan of attack for the hole.

“The main reasons to go down 17 is that you take out the right fairway bunker on 15 and you have a wider fairway to hit. It also makes the hole slightly shorter,” Molinari explained in an email.

The tournament’s rules committee, which is headed by chief referee Steve Rintoul, spent considerable time on Tuesday and Wednesday considering whether to install internal out-of-bounds down the entire right side of the hole, primarily as a safety concern for volunteer marshals and fans watching on 17, and in part to protect the architectural integrity of the hole designed by architects George C. Thomas Jr., and Billy Bell, which they never dreamed to be played in this style.

Internal OB has been instituted in recent years to avoid a shortcut down the left side of the 18^th hole at Waialae Country Club during the Sony Open in Hawaii, at No. 18 at TPC Sawgrass during the Players Championship, two separate spots at the upcoming Cognizant Classic at PGA National, not to mention at the first hole at Royal Portrush during the 2019 British Open to Rory McIlroy’s everlasting dismay.

“What if a guy tries to play the hole the right way and he’s behind a tree and his only play is to go sideways to 17? We’re taking that option away from that player. There were scenarios that didn’t sit well with us,” Rintoul told…