Georgia, Atlanta: The US Open is returning to Los Angeles, with Riviera Country Club selected to host the major in 2031.Riviera, in the Pacific Palisades part of the city, will welcome the 131st US Open Championship from June 12-15, 2031.The region hosted its first US Open since 1948 last weekend at the Los Angeles Country Club."Riviera Country Club is a truly spectacular course that holds a special place in the game’s history,” said John Bodenhamer, USGA’s chief championships officer. "We are thrilled to bring the US Open back to the site of such historic moments for golf and the USGA and look forward to writing a new chapter in 2031.”Ben Hogan won the 1948 US Open at Riviera, which went on to host the 1998 US Senior Open won by Hale Irwin and the 2017 US Amateur won by Doc Redman.The US Women’s Open will be played there in 2026 during the course’s centennial year, and the golf competition in the 2028 Los Angeles Olympics will take place at Riviera. Riviera is an annual stop on the PGA Tour, hosting The Genesis Invitational.US Open on NBC most-watchedsince 2019The 2023 US Open averaged 6.2mn viewers across NBC and Peacock, making it the most-watched version of the major championship since 2019, NBC Sports said yesterday. An average of 8.8mn viewers tuned in Sunday to watch Wyndham Clark outlast Rory McIlroy of Northern Ireland in the final round, the number peaking at 10.2mn.Holding the major on the West Coast seems to have helped the USGA maximize its audience with prime-time broadcasts.The Los Angeles Country Club hosted a major for the first time; the last time the US Open racked in this many viewers, in 2019, it was held at Pebble Beach in Northern California.The overall viewership was up 27 percent from last year.
June 21, 2023 | 10:59 PM