Photo: © Stephen Dunn/Allsport The ninth hole at Riviera Country Club in more recent times.

Riviera gained fame as the club of choice for movie stars. Among them were Douglas Fairbanks (who put up $1,000 of the $10,000 prize fund for the first Los Angeles Open), W.C. Fields, Basil Rathbone, Dean Martin, Burt Lancaster and Sammy Davis Jr. More recently the membership has included Glen Campbell, Peter Falk, James Garner and Robert Wagner . Scenes from several movies were shot at Riviera, including "Pat and Mike", "The Caddy", and "Follow the Sun."

Today, those familiar with Riviera as a PGA Tour stop also recognize it as the course with the Kikuyu grass and a bunker in the middle of a green. Kikuyu is a strong, tough strain of grass that was imported from Africa more than70 years ago for use on polo grounds. When Riviera opened, polo was popular in L.A. and there were several polo grounds in the neighborhood. Their are many stories about how Kikuyu appeared at Riviera, but the tale most often told is that one night after a local polo field was seeded, a windstorm carried the Kikuyu seed onto Riviera. Since Kikuyu grass is essentially a weed, it grew quickly. The course superintendent ignored its encroachment, and before he knew it Riviera had been taken over by Kikuyu. Instead of resisting its growth, Riviera learned how to perfect Kikuyu. Today it blankets the course, making pitch and run shots nearly impossible because the thick grass grabs the club head. Many believe Kikuyu is the finest form of grass to play off fairways because the ball sits up, regardless of the lie. Riviera’s other unique feature is the sixth hole, a 170-yard par 3 that features a bunker in the middle of the green, making the putting surface into a doughnut shape. If a player's tee shot lands on the wrong side of the bunker, he must chip over the sand or take several putts around it. For the average player, option No. 1 means taking a divot out of the green.

Riviera has held several major championships. The 1948 U.S. Open there was won by Ben Hogan, who shot 8-under-par 276, an Open scoring record that stood until Jack Nicklaus posted a 5-under-par 275 in 1967 at Baltusrol.

In 1983, the PGA Championship was held at Riviera and won by Hal Sutton. The PGA returned in 1995, with Steve Elkington beating Colin Montgomerie in a playoff. Both shot 267, which remains the record for any major championship.

Riviera hosted a Senior Tour major in 1998 when Hale Irwin rebounded from a first-round 77 and claimed the title.

Unfortunately, the odds on Riviera holding another major are slim. Moreover, the club may well lose the Northern Trust Open. The course is regarded as one of the gems on the PGA Tour, but traffic is a mess and the congested neighborhood offers limited options for parking, hospitality and merchandise tents.

Major Championships held at Riviera:
1948 U.S. Open won by Ben Hogan
1983 PGA Championship won by Hal Sutton
1995 PGA Championship won by Steve Elkington
1998 U.S. Senior Open won by Hale Irwin

Race to get into the Accenture World Match Play Championshp

With all of the talk of players that could move in and move out in the top-64, only one player moved in and one moved out. With Anders Hansen finishing 2nd in Dubai he moved from the 70th spot to the 52nd spot which earned him a spot. With Hansen moving in Henrik Stenson, who missed the cut fell from 62nd to 65th. Now it looked like Stenson was going to be safe because it looked like both Phil Mickelson and Francesco Molinari were going to possibly pull out. But Mickelson announced that he would play instead of taking his family on a vacation (who knows, if he loses in the first round on Wednesday he could still take the family on vaction). As for Molinari, his wife delivered their child a week early (last week) and right now Molinari hasn't made a final decision but you have to think if everything is fine it would be safe for him to leave Italy 10 days after the child is more. The lucky person in all of this is Japan Tour player Toru Taniguchi. In his last five starts on the Japan Golf Tour at the end of last year he finished T3rd, T3rd, T44th, T5th and 2nd to move from 83rd in the rankings to 58th. Despite not playing at all this year (Japan Golf Tour gets started next month) he entered last week 64th in the rankings and when the dust settled stayed at 64th, thus getting the last spot.

Race to the Masters

Players that are in the top-50 of the world rankings after the Arnold Palmer Invitational get to play in the Masters
For the fourth time this year a player not in the Masters field won on the PGA Tour and with it AT&T Pebble Beach winner D.A. Points is now going to play in Augusta. With him now entered the field is up to 95 and with seven more weeks left could for the first time since 1966 go over 100 players. One thing that will help prevent that from happening, right now everyone in the top-50 are in the Masters field so there won't be, if any, invites from that category.

The Buzz:

The Northern Trust, which was the Los Angeles Open has always held a special spot in the hearts of those on the PGA Tour. Maybe because it's played on the doorstep of Hollywood and had several movie stars play in the pro-am and attend the tournament. Also for years until 1974 it started off the PGA Tour's year.

But in the last decade it was the last event before the Match Play, which helped get it a better field with players getting ready for the Match Play. But all of that changed last year as it moved up a couple of weeks to accommodate television making some changes due to the Olympics. So with the move it went the same week as the Super Bowl, it's first real challenge. Making things worst was the steep hike in tickets, they raised it from $30 to $50 a day at the gate. Making things super worst, bad weather rolled in on Friday with heavy rain on Friday and Saturday, with nobody wanting to miss the Super Bowl they only had about 30,000 for the week, less than in the past when a weekend day would get at least 30,000 for the day.

Now officials realized the greed, sorry blunder in their ways and have reduced the price to $30 in advance and $35 at the gate. They now have a senior and college student price of $20 and are allowing juniors and military in for free, which will help. But again there are more challenges.

On the last day the NBA All-Star Game is being played in Los Angeles, so that will hurt the gate. Also again Mother Nature isn't going to help as Friday the forecast is for 70% chance of rain and Saturday 90%. So again things will be challenging for officials who were counting on a good field and already have seen Ernie Els and Nick Watney become early withdrawals.

Now it could of helped if Tiger Woods would of played in L.A. this week, it's obvious that he needs the reps but you never know what his schedule. He is going to play in the Match Play next week and then two weeks later at the Cadillac. In between is the Honda, which is on a great course right next to his new home that he is planning on moving into in the coming months. But officials of the Honda aren't very positive, so you would of thought that maybe he would add Riviera, a tournament that was his first PGA Tour start back in 1992.

Once Tiger passes on a tournament like he has done with the AT&T Pebble Beach, Byron Nelson and Northern Trust, he doesn't go back. Woods is a creature of habit and rarely adds on tournaments, so it looks like the Northern Trust will go down in his career as the event with the most starts (11) without a victory. Hey Tiger isn't allow, Jack Nicklaus has played in 12 Northern Trust/L.A. Opens and never won either.

Talking about Woods, between 1993 and 2009 either Phil Mickelson or Tiger Woods won at least once on the West Coast swing. So the streak was broken last year and with two weeks left, it looks like again the West Coast swing for the second straight year won't have a Tiger/Phil win

An even more incredible record could fall. Since the start of the World Rankings in it's first full year in 1987 there as always been one person from the top-ten that has won on the West Coast swing. But that mark is in serious jeopardy by the winners from 2011. Look at their rank the week before their win:

Mercedes winner Jonathan Byrd was 121st
Sony Hawaii winner Mark Wilson was 237th
Bob Hope winner Jhonattan Vegas was 187th
Farmers Insurance winner Bubba Watson was 33rd
WM Phoenix winner Mark Wilson was 91st
AT&T Pebble winner D.A. Points was 167th
So with two weeks left on the West Coast swing there is a very good chance that this streak will fall. Of course the Accenture Match Play will have all top-ten in the field from the rankings, still match play is fickle at times so it's not a sure bet.

Here are some things to look for this week:

Photo: © Gary Newkirk /Allsport Scene at the 18 hole at Riviera Country Club.

Riviera C.C. has held a U.S. Open, two PGA Championships and a Senior Open. No other stop on the PGA Tour can claim the distinction of holding those three majors. Of the 50 courses that will hold a PGA Tour event this year, Riviera, Pebble Beach, Congressional and Atlanta Athletic Club are the only ones that have hosted both the U.S. Open and the PGA Championship.

In the history of this tournament, 29 of the 48 winners at Riviera have also won a major championship. But the one thing to look for is the close finish. There have been 16 playoffs at the tournament, with five coming since 1998, including wins by Billy Mayfair (1998), Robert Allenby (2001), Mike Weir (2003), Adam Scott (2005) and Charles Howell III (2007). Dating back to 1989, the tournament has ended in a playoff (6 times) or with a one-stroke win 13 times – the last being Phil Mickelson’s one-stroke win in 2009.

Here are some secrets to a good round at the Northern Trust Open:

• Key stat for the winner:
  Riviera is a classic layout and a different breed than most courses on the PGA Tour. Placing drives in the right spot is important. Consider some of the champions over the last 18 years: Steve Stricker, Phil Mickelson, Charles Howell III, Rory Sabbatini, Mike Weir, Len Mattiace, Kirk Triplett, Craig Stadler, Corey Pavin, Tom Kite and Ted Schultz. What do they have in common? Except for Sabbatini, since 1998 not one of the winners has been in the top-10 in driving accuracy for the week and ten of them were out of the top-25.
• Disclaimer: All of the above could go out the window because rain will make Riviera play longer this week.
• Experience is key. The list of champions in the last 18 years includes Phil Mickelson Fred Couples, Tom Kite, Corey Pavin, Craig Stadler, Nick Faldo, Ernie Els and Mike Weir, all major championship winners.
• Players who hit lots of greens always do well at Riviera. In the last ten years only two players have not been in the top-ten for the week in greens hit. Last year Steve Stricker was T10th while in 2009 Phil Mickelson was T9th in greens hit at Riviera.
• Putting has become more important the last couple of years. You have to make a lot of putts, especially in the under ten feet range to do well. Last year Steve Stricker had the least amount of putts with just 104.
• Players who are good scramblers do well at Riviera, especially those who can play the delicate shots around the green from the Kikuyu grass.
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