Not everyone is happy with the change, or willing to say publicly that this is the case.
“A terrible change,” said Rory McIlroy, the bluntest assessment of the hole that Ben Hogan once called America’s greatest par 3.
“Here and hope,” Collin Morikawa said. “I think it’s just a really long par 3. Not much thought has gone into it other than hitting the green and moving on, unfortunately.”
The other change for the Genesis Invitational, which starts Thursday, is adding 24 yards to the 18th tee — now about where the fourth tee was — to make it 499 yards.
Someone forgot to tell Scottie Scheffler, or maybe he never looked. He didn’t realize the closing hole at Riviera had been extended until he climbed the steep hill to the fairway and wondered why he had to hit a 4-iron to the green.
What hasn’t changed at Riviera is its history. Hogan won three times, including the US Open, leading to the nickname ‘Hogan’s Alley’. Byron Nelson and Sam Snead won at Riviera, as did Tom Watson and Johnny Miller and Fred Couples.
McIlroy has Riviera on his list of places to win, having won at Augusta National and Pebble Beach.
Equally remarkable is who didn’t win. Tiger Woods, the tournament host of the Genesis Invitational, went 0-11 as a pro at Riviera, making it the PGA Tour course he played the most without ever winning.
Jack Nicklaus has defeated Woods again. He played Riviera 14 times – twice in the majors, including finishing second to Hal Sutton in the 1983 PGA Championship – without winning.
“There are places I haven’t won yet that I would like to win, including St. Andrews. Riviera would be another one,” McIlroy said.
This is the 100th anniversary of the club and the tournament, but what started as the Los Angeles Open was not held in Riviera until 1929. Even more special is being back on the legendary course at Sunset Boulevard, after last year’s devastating Pacific Palisades wildfires forced the tournament to move south to Torrey Pines.
Ludvig Aberg won the Genesis Invitational at Torrey Pines a year ago. This is only his second time competing at Riviera, but he liked what he saw from 2024.
“I think it’s one of the best golf courses we play all year,” Aberg said. “It’s obviously a small course. It’s not crazy long. You’ve got some strong holes and some longer par 4s. But what I like about it is that a hole like No. 10 kind of puts a stamp on this golf course in terms of working the corners, fast greens and everything that goes to the ocean goes really fast and you have to put your second shots into the greens.”
“That’s the part of this golf course that I really like, and that’s why you’re going to see a lot of different good players win here.”
The par-4 10th is the most famous hole, accessible from the tee and yet no one ever complains about making a 4 and moving on to the next hole. It’s all about angles off the tee with an iron, and even where to miss when trying to hit the green.
As for the fourth hole, it was long and difficult, and now it seems to be longer and more difficult.
The idea for his Redan-style hole is to carry the bunker opposite the green, or use the shoulder on the right leading to the green – except this is February, cold and mostly damp, and the kikuyu grass can be sticky and not allow the balls to roll.
This would explain McIlroy’s definition of “terrible change.”
“Well, like last time 15% of the field reached the green when it was played at the original distance of 230,” he said. “If you want it to be a 275-yard par 3, you have to change the platform that leads to the green. It can’t be a kikuyu, it has to be a different type of grass that can help you run onto the green because again, in the right conditions, if you try to fly that ball over the green with a 3-iron, it’s going to end up on the fifth tee box.
“That’s kind of what I mean by why it’s not a big change.”
US Open champion JJ Spaun could borrow a page from his college coach at San Diego State.
“If this was a par 4, you’d make it 3 every time,” Spaun said. “You know what I mean? It’s kind of a mentality. If this was a drivable 290-yard hole but really a par 4 and you didn’t walk away with a birdie, you’d be kidding yourself.”
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