Wednesday at Riviera: 2026 U.S. Women's Open Notebook

After spending all day at the 2026 U.S. Women’s Open, my notebook is full of course thoughts, musings on players, and insights from watching the best in the world prepare for their biggest week of the year. The stage is set, and Riviera Country Club is ready. Here are three thoughts from Wednesday to tide you over until the first ball is in the air. 

What Type of Player Will Riviera Favor?

Will the marine layer and ocean breeze give the big hitters a steep advantage? Will whoever figures out the George Thomas greens rise above the field? Does the player who best navigates the tricky kikuyu come out on top? You could make an argument for any of those skills being the key to victory this week. It may come as a surprise that chatter around short hitters having an advantage came up multiple times during Wednesday’s practice rounds. 

One former player and major winner told me that “dinkers” may have a good week at Riviera. They “pick the ball cleanly in the fairway and out of the rough” instead of digging it out. With the kikuyu rough being so unpredictable, big hitters may be forced to be slightly more conservative with their lines and targets, thus negating their distance advantage. Lastly, with no rain in the forecast, the course will firm up into the weekend, giving shorter players more roll out and perhaps a club or two less on some second-shot approaches. 

Pace of Play Conundrum

The words “pace of play” were said seven times by the USGA’s Senior Director of Championships Shannon Rouillard during Wednesday’s press conference with Chief Commercial Officer Jon Podany and Chief Championships Officer John Bodenhamer. It’s clearly on the USGA’s mind, and Riviera’s setup on Thursday and Friday will do its best to avoid bottlenecks and long waits. With split tee times, Rouillard and team have the difficult challenge of two starting holes — the 499-yard par-5 first and the 307-yard par-4 10th — that can bring pace to a crawl as soon as a round begins. Per Rouillard, “Pace of play certainly is part of that equation on Thursday and Friday, trying to get 156 players through their round, so to speak, and thought it was really important to make sure that we did so.”

A large portion of the field will go for the first green in two, so backups may be unavoidable on the front nine. To avoid the same fate on the back nine, the forward tee box on the 10th hole won’t be seen until the weekend. That will take driver out of the hands of players, making the short 10th a two-shot hole.

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Variety of Shots Required

Practice rounds before a major championship are a feast for the eyes of any golf fan. The skill of these players is on full display as they take different angles off the tee, try different ball flights on their approaches, and show off their short game acumen around the greens. The number of shots and the length of time players spent around and on Riviera’s greens on Wednesday showed the attention and focus they’re giving the kikuyu surrounds and sloping greens. On the par-3 sixth hole alone, players spent time on nearly every square inch of the green. Putting, and sometimes chipping, from one tier to another, taking turns hitting out of the bunker in the middle of the green to imaginary pin markers, and sharing their disbelief of the slopes and the speed of downhill putts. 

Riviera will ask players to go deep into their bag of shots, challenging them in ways that will make whoever’s on top of the leaderboard on Sunday a worthy champion.