Riviera Country Club Selected as Host of 2031 U.S. Open

The U.S. Open is returning to a historic Los Angeles club in 2031

The U.S. Open is set to return to Los Angeles in 2031, this time at the historic Riviera Country Club. 

According to the Los Angeles Times, club members were informed of the USGA’s decision by Megan Watanabe, the club’s president, via email on Tuesday night. 

“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,” Watanabe wrote in her email. Watanabe’s father, Noboru, is the longtime owner of Riviera. 

Riviera has hosted three major championships, the last being the 1995 PGA Championship. The famed George Thomas design hosted one prior U.S. Open in 1948. Another PGA Championship was played at Riviera in 1983. The course is also the home of the PGA Tour’s annual Genesis Invitational, which Tiger Woods hosts. 

Riviera CC is  lauded by the pros but the course is compact, and like Los Angeles Country Club, the event comes with tricky logistics and parking issues. At last week’s U.S. Open, the attendance was limited to just 23,000, as opposed to the typical 30,000 fans that attend weekend rounds, for that very reason. 

According to Golf Channel’s Rich Lerner, a few changes will be made to the course ahead of the U.S. Open’s return. 

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.

— Rich Lerner (@RichLernerGC) June 21, 2023

A formal announcement for the 2031 date is expected on Wednesday. 

Riviera will also host the 2026 U.S. Women’s Open. This year the event is being played at Pebble Beach Golf Links.