Tour Guide: On the Ground at Riviera

Welcome back to Tour Guide, a Club TFE weekly preview, review, and ramble around the pro golf scene featuring some of the more insightful voices observing said scene. This week we have boots on the ground at the Genesis Invitational (L.A. Open, as it might still be for some of you), and plenty of on-site coverage from the Fried Egg team.

First-Day Takeaways

By Joseph LaMagna

I’m writing this on Wednesday, my first day seeing Riviera Country Club in the flesh. An admittedly hard-headed contrarian, I’ve always been inclined to zag when people heap unanimous praise upon a particular thing or golf course. Riviera seems to receive nothing but praise from casual fans, architecture experts, historians, and even players themselves, the latter of which is almost always a negative indicator.

Prior to today, I’d watched a bunch of golf at Riviera on broadcasts and have analyzed tons of Riviera shot data. But after spending today walking all the holes and watching golf shots in person, I must reluctantly agree with the consensus: Riviera is amazing.

Could things be improved? Sure. Some of the mowing lines are offensive, and bringing the barrancas more into play would elevate shot value and the course’s aesthetic. These are nitpicks, though. On the whole, Riviera is a tremendous test of professional golf. This week’s champion won’t be scraping it around Riv, finding fortunate breaks. He’ll need to execute.

The hole I changed my opinion about the most today was the ninth. Historically, I’ve found the ninth hole underwhelming relative to the praise it receives. I was wrong; it isn’t underwhelming. The ninth looks exceptional and plays just as well.

The ninth fairway at Riviera (photo: Fried Egg Golf)

The fairway bunker down the left side of the hole is one of the most penal on the PGA Tour. Historically, golfers who find the left-hand fairway bunker lose, on average, more than 0.6 strokes to the field. Like many of the holes at Riviera, players cannot simply bail away from the dangerous side on nine with impunity. If you spray too far right, you can find some fairly thick grass, and the rough just off the fairway is no bargain either.

The rough on the right can lead to an easy bogey, as Scottie Scheffler found out last year.

The skinny, severely contoured green makes for a demanding uphill approach shot. It’s a fun, challenging golf hole. Under the right conditions, long players can smash it over the bunker on the left, removing a hazard from play and providing a massive advantage over shorter-hitting competitors.

As I walked around the property today, one thought kept recurring in my mind: Scottie Scheffler is going to win this week.

Okay, do I think he has more than a 50% chance of winning? No. But I’d be pretty surprised if Scottie Scheffler isn’t in contention on the back nine on Sunday. Riviera affords the best ball-strikers in the world ample opportunities to distance themselves from the field, and there is no better ball-striker in the world than Scottie Scheffler. His combination of long-iron skill and deft touch around the greens makes him the clear favorite entering one of the biggest tournaments of the year.

Enjoy the week. I’d recommend watching some coverage of the ninth hole. And look for Scottie’s name at the top of the leaderboard.

Amateur Hour

By Brendan Porath

On a great majority of subjects, I am of the opinion that PGA Tour pros are, to quote Patrick Cantlay, “pampered f**ks” who simply cannot suck it up and resist whining about the smallest inconvenient matters. But after witnessing yet another pro-am up close on Wednesday at Riviera, I have never been more convinced that this is an absurd indignity that no professional athlete should be subjected to in the year 2024.

The Genesis put its field through a full 18-hole pro-am for what appeared to be some of the longest, most hacky hours of their lives. In some instances, the nine-hole pace was putting a scare into the three-hour mark. The later tee times, which included top players in the world, were racing to beat darkness. It was quite cold, too, with the wind blowing through the canyon. Yet here were top-ranked pros playing with “important” John Does chopping it up all over the yard on the EVE of a $20 million tournament that might be the most prestigious event on the PGA Tour’s schedule. This is insane! LeBron James is not required to play hours of pick-up basketball or knockout with some influential businessmen the night before an NBA playoff game.

Scottie Scheffler soldiering through a long, cold Wednesday pro-am the night before one of the biggest events of the year. (photo: Fried Egg Golf)

This is a massive professional competition, and you have the best in the world trying to stay warm for six hours and beat the sun before the first round even starts. And there’s Joe Bloggs, topping one off the first tee and then rifling his next shot off a concession stand thought to be safely out of play. It was dangerous walking around! No pro should have to endure this. I’ve played in one myself, and no player, not even Grayson Murray, should have had to put up with my garbage game before a competitive tournament. Every player I saw seemed to keep it professional, but in their more unguarded moments several put on a face best described as morose.

I understand there was once a very important purpose for this practice. It was a chance to network and scratch the back of existing Tour sponsors. But it’s antiquated now. There are many areas where pro golfers need to be less whiny and put up with more “inconveniences” for the sake of the game. But the pro-am, especially for significant events, is not one of them.

One Two Shots from Last Week

By Will Knights

How does Justin Suh follow that up?

He does the same thing! pic.twitter.com/IfbIDRI0Sp

— PGA TOUR (@PGATOUR) February 10, 2024

This week’s shot is actually two shots, hit in the same group just minutes apart from one another. On the second hole of the third round of the WM Phoenix Open, Jake Knapp and Justin Suh both found the fairway. Knapp was 172 yards away, while Suh was a bit closer, with 156 yards to the back-right pin. But what differed greatly in their approach shot were their respective lies. Knapp had a dead flat stance, while Suh’s ball sat a few inches below his feet. With the wind playing in and off the right, Knapp opted to hit a tight draw. Suh did the opposite, his stance dictating that he should hit a cut. Both players executed their shots to perfection, leaving tap-in birdies on a difficult pin.

While shotmaking isn’t nearly as common with modern technology, it definitely still exists in professional golf. Knapp and Suh are two of the most athletic players on the PGA Tour, and watching them craft shots is a good reminder of why we enjoy watching high-level golf.

Memory Lane: Torrey Tops Riv

By Brendan Porath

With a few more on-site notes and chuckles this week, we’re keeping Memory Lane shorter. Here’s an amusing look back at the start of the century to a time when Riviera was battling Torrey Pines for the USGA’s favor for the 2008 U.S. Open. Tasting notes from this quick Gary Van Sickle framing of the bout include:

• Each course hiring an architect to set up an Open doctoring battle between Tom Fazio (Riv) and Rees Jones (Torrey).
• Riviera hiring the spouse of an influential USGA agronomist in an effort to further curry favor.
• Picking a venue six years in advance being characterized as “a long way off.”
• Torrey pulling ahead with one pro saying “Torrey Pines is as good or better than Pebble Beach, and much harder.”
• “When Steve Elkington won in ’95, nobody in L.A. cared. It didn’t even sell out,” says [Jay] Haas. “I love Riviera–it’s one of my five favorite courses–but for the Open I’d vote for Torrey Pines.”

Now? Riviera is on the schedule for 2031, and venues are planned out past 2050. The annual Tour stop at Torrey has seen better days, and the chances of another major seem more than remote for one of the few public courses in the country to have held one.