Riviera Country Club

Infobox_Golf_Facility
golf_facility_name = Riviera Country Club

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imagesize = 250px
caption = 18th hole at the Riviera Country Club
location = Los Angeles, California
establishment = 1926
type = Private
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holes = 18
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website = [http://rccla.com/ Riviera Country Club]
course1 =
designer1 = George C. Thomas, Jr.
par1 = 71
length1 = 7,078
rating1 = 73.9
record1 =
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The Riviera Country Club is a country club with a championship golf course. It is located in Pacific Palisades, California, within the city limits of Los Angeles, California. The country club opened in 1926, with George C. Thomas, Jr. as the course architect. The course has been the primary host for the PGA Tour's Northern Trust Open (better known as the Los Angeles Open). Riviera has also hosted the U.S. Open in 1948, the PGA Championship in 1983 and 1995, and the U.S. Senior Open in 1998. The course is located in the Santa Monica Canyon, just below the Santa Monica Mountains and a block south of Sunset Boulevard. It is not to be confused with the clubs of the same name in Coral Gables, Florida, [http://www.rivieracountryclub.org] Chicago, Illinois, [http://www.rivierasports.com] or Dublin, Ohio [http://www.rivieragolfclub.net] .

History

When the country club and course opened in 1926, it was known as the Los Angeles Athletic Club Golf Course. Dr. Alister MacKenzie and Billy Bell helped Thomas in the design and planning of the course. They were in charge of assembling a labor force to build the course from scratch in the Santa Monica Canyon. In 1927 dollars, the entire country club and golf course cost $243,827.63 to build. The course has been redesigned a few times, most notably in 1992 when Ben Crenshaw and Bill Coore redesigned the bunkers to look like they did when the course opened.

The country club prospered in the 1930s and 1940s. In its prime, the Riviera Polo Club was the most popular and extensive in Southern California, hosting the polo events in the 1932 Summer Olympic Games. The Riviera Equestrian Center was where prominent riders like Egan Merz trained younger people like Elizabeth Taylor how to ride.

The movie "Pat and Mike", starring Katharine Hepburn and Babe Zaharias, was filmed at Riviera, as was "The Caddy", starring Jerry Lewis and Dean Martin, with a cameo appearance by Ben Hogan, and "Follow the Sun", about Hogan, starring Glenn Ford and Anne Baxter. The club has had many famous members which include Glen Campbell, Vic Damone, Peter Falk, Jack Ging, Dean Martin, Gregory Peck, Walt Disney, Hal Roach, Douglas Fairbanks, and Mary Pickford.

The course is well-known for Ben Hogan, and the course has been called "Hogan's Alley". In the 1940s, Hogan won the Los Angeles Open three times and finished second once. Other notable winners at Riviera include Sam Snead, Byron Nelson, Hale Irwin, Tom Watson, Johnny Miller, Ben Crenshaw, Mark Calcavecchia, Fred Couples, Davis Love III, Corey Pavin, Craig Stadler, Nick Faldo, Ernie Els, Mike Weir, and Phil Mickelson. Hogan also won the 1948 U.S. Open at Riviera, and Irwin also won the 1998 U.S. Senior Open. Hal Sutton won the 1983 PGA, and Steve Elkington won the 1995 PGA.

More recent winners at Riviera include Rory Sabbatini, who won the 2006 Nissan Open and Charles Howell III, who won the 2007 Nissan Open in a sudden death playoff against Phil Mickelson. In the 2008 Northern Trust Open, Mickelson hung on for a two shot win over Jeff Quinney to win for the first time at Riviera. This win gave Mickelson at least one win in every West Coast Swing event.

One notable exception to the list of winners is Tiger Woods. As a high school sophomore from Cypress in neighboring Orange County, Woods played his very first PGA Tour event (as an amateur) at Riviera in 1992; he shot 72-75 and missed the cut. His best finish at L.A. was in 1998, when the Nissan Open was held at the Valencia Country Club (Riviera was being prepared for the U.S. Senior Open). Woods shot 65-66 on the weekend, but lost in a playoff to Billy Mayfair, his only playoff loss on tour (10-1 through March 2008). Woods finished tied for second in 1999 and had top-10 finishes in 2003 and 2004. The 2005 event had only two rounds due to rain; Woods finished 13th. He last played at Riviera in 2006, also rain-plagued, but withdrew after two rounds due to illness. [http://www.golf.com/golf/tours_news/article/0,28136,1713205,00.html?eref=golf]

General information

The greens are bent grass, and the fairways are kikuya grass. Guests must play the course with a member. For the dress code, denim is not allowed; a collared shirt and Bermuda shorts are required. Green fees for guests are $350 for a round, including a golf cart.

The course

The course is a par 71, at a length of 6,950 from the back tees (which has been lengthened to 7,078 yards for Tour play), 6,505 yards from the middle tees, and 5,844 yards from the forward tees. The men's slope ratings are 74.3/139 and 71.9/130 for the back and middle tees, respectively. The ladies' slope rating is 74.7/137 for the forward tees. The course record for competitive play is 61, which is 10 under par, shot by Ted Tryba in 1999. The course record for the lowest nine holes was 28 (seven under par on the front nine), shot by Andrew Magee in the 1991 L.A. Open.

The first hole, a short par 5, is an easy beginning hole. The tee is elevated 75 feet above the fairway, tempting players to hit driver, but out of bounds on the left side makes players think twice. Scores range from eagle to double bogey. The second hole is a long par four that plays uphill and into the wind. It is the number one handicap hole. The third hole is a medium-length par four that plays into the wind.

The fourth hole is a long par three, which Hogan called the "Best par three in America". The par four fifth hole plays into the wind and is almost on the side of the hill. The par three sixth hole is world-famous for having a bunker in the middle of the green. If a player is on the wrong side of the green, he or she will have to make a tough decision to either putt around or chip over the bunker.

The fairway at the seventh hole, a par four, is difficult to hit. The eighth hole, a long par four, has two fairways separated by a dry wash. The ninth, a long par four, is known for its well-placed fairway bunkers.

The tenth hole is a really short par four known as a risk-reward hole. Longer hitters can try to drive the green, but an accurate drive will be needed as several bunkers surround the green. The eleventh hole is a long par five where eucalyptus trees and barranca come into play. The twelfth is a long par four, often into the wind, that plays to a narrow green surrounded by bunkers and trees. One tree, Bogey's Tree, is named after Humphrey Bogart.

The thirteenth hole is a tough driving hole, with out-of-bounds on the left side and eucalyptus on the right side. The fourteenth is an easy par three with the largest green on the golf course, but the green is multi-tiered, making putting difficult. The fifteenth hole is a dogleg par four to the right that features the largest green on the golf course, but the green is two-tiered, so one must make sure that his or her ball is on the proper tier. This hole plays into the breeze of the Pacific Ocean and it is a pivotal hole in the tournament.

The sixteenth hole is the last par three on the course and can yield birdies, however players will need to hit the small green that it surrounded by bunkers. The seventeenth hole is a long, uphill par five that is the longest hole on the golf course. The eighteenth hole is a world-famous par four. The tee shot is blind, and the ball must find the fairway to have any chance of reaching the green, which is surrounded by a natural amphitheater with a beautiful view of the clubhouse.

External links

* [http://rccla.com/ Official site]
* [http://www.therivieracountryclub.com/html/course_tour.cfm Virtual tour of the golf course] from the official site
* [http://www.therivieracountryclub.com/html/history.cfm Historical tour of the course] from the official site
* [http://www.pgatour.com/tournaments/r007/ Official PGA TOUR website for the Northern Trust Open]