THE MAJORS
The women’s majors The US Women’s Open in the first week of June is on the opposite west coast to the men on the east coast. Riviera Coun- try Club, a PGA Tour stop, will be finally hosting another major championship in 2026. The Open heralds a run of four women’s majors in a stretch of eight weeks, and improved SuperSport cover- age of women’s golf in recent years, plus outstanding venues for the majors, have made them compulsive viewing. We get to see the best women’s pro- fessionals playing courses far more challenging than they experience on the weekly LPGA Tour schedule. PGA Tour players may be well ac- quainted with Riviera, but this is the
hosted the LA Open, now the Genesis Invitational, on 60 occasions. Riviera’s designer was George C Thomas, also re- sponsible for the creation of the North Course at Los Angeles CC, where the 2023 US Open was contested. We will be seeing more of Riviera in 2028. It is the host venue for the Olym- pic Games that year. No longer a winning splash The Chevron Championship is the opening women’s major, two weeks af- ter the Masters, and it is moving to Me- morial Park in Houston, where the PGA Tour are playing the Houston Open in late March. A trademark tradition of this major,
first time the Los Angeles club has opened its doors to elite women golfers. It’s not as if the club, which celebrates its centenary this year, excludes wom- en. Hollywood star Katharine Hepburn was a member, and scenes from her 1952 movie Pat and Mike, where she played a golf and tennis celebrity, were shot at Riviera, with cameos from LPGA golfers of the era, including Babe Zaharias. Riviera’s only previous US Open was the men’s 1948 version won by Ben Ho- gan, his first of four. His eight-under to- tal remained the US Open record until Tiger Woods shot 12-under at Pebble Beach in 2000. The championship nev- er returned, possibly due to Riviera’s familiarity to PGA Tour players. It has
78 GOLF DIGEST SOUTH AFRICA
JANUARY/FEBRUARY 2026
Made with FlippingBook interactive PDF creator