Lakers legend to run Riviera’s premier event

Hoping to boost the fortunes of Los Angeles’ most storied golf tournament, Lakers legend Jerry West will become the executive director of the Riviera Country Club’s Northern Trust Open, the PGA Tour is expected to announce today.

“The goal is to raise the profile of this great event,” West said during an interview this week at his Bel Air home. “We want this to be a tournament people really want to go see, with an even better feel to it, and we want to raise a lot more money for charity. Los Angeles has just given me so much over the last 40 years, and this is my chance to give back.”

The tournament, established in 1922 and originally known as the Los Angeles Open, has a legendary history. Its champions include such all-time greats as Ben Hogan, Sam Snead, Arnold Palmer, Tom Watson and current title-holder Phil Mickelson. It was also one of the first pro events to allow non-white golfers.

But PGA Tour officials have watched its prominence fade, particularly in terms of the buzz it creates within Los Angeles. Attendance has dropped steadily over the last decade, said David Pillsbury, a PGA Tour executive vice president. When the tournament was last played, in February, about 30,000 people watched a final weekend duel won by Mickelson. Given that “L.A. is the nation’s second biggest market,” Pillsbury noted, the weekend attendance number figure “should be 50,000.”

West, a skilled golfer with a deep love for the game, said he hopes to make the Northern Trust “a happening . . . an event people would be looking forward to all year long.”

To ensure his role will be more than titular, he said he’ll work to make the tournament more fan friendly, focusing on things such as better seating, parking and food. He also hopes to drum up local support, partly by drawing on his longtime relationships. One of those is with Tiger Woods, who in recent years has taken the tournament off his schedule.

“Tiger used to come to Lakers games when I was there so I got to know him a little bit,” said a smiling West. “Let’s just put it this way: It would be really nice to see him come back to this tournament. We’ll be working on that.”

West, who agreed to take the job after being approached early this year by Pillsbury, local sports impresario Casey Wasserman, and agent Arn Tellem, said he was particularly drawn by the opportunity to boost the tournament’s charitable giving.

Events of similar stature in smaller cities such as Phoenix, San Antonio and Dallas separately raised between $5 million and $9 million for local charities in 2008; the L.A. tournament last year raised about $1.3 million, according to the tour.

“If we can bring more money in that we can then spread to people who really need it, that will be wonderful,” West said. “I am going to be 71 soon and at this point in my life giving to others is something I get a lot of satisfaction out of. I’m hopeful we can get this whole thing going in the right direction.”

As part of the effort to remake the tournament, the tour will begin partnering with the Los Angeles Junior Chamber of Commerce to run the tournament.

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kurt.streeter@latimes.com