COURSES OF ACTION

As the Nissan Open and Riviera Country Club became synonymous over the last 20 years, most of the players in this week’s field are probably unaware that 10 other golf courses have hosted the event formerly known as the Los Angeles Open. Besides 39 appearances at Riviera since the tournament’s inception in 1926, the event has been played at familiar public courses, exclusive private clubs and three layouts that no longer exist. But each of these “other” courses has played a vital role in sustaining the 75-year-old Nissan Open.

LOS ANGELES COUNTRY CLUB

A five-time venue, the site of the first Los Angeles Open won by Harry Cooper in 1926. The inaugural tournament was played on the club’s North Course, designed by Herbert Fowler and George Thomas. But a controversial par-three prompted architect and club member Thomas to update the course during the fall of 1927. Players criticized the now-extinct 120-yard 17th after an overnight Santa Ana wind had dried out the putting surface, causing several contestants to putt off the green. Thomas himself selected the controversial hole location that ultimately led to the sporty 17th’s demise. However, the replacement 17th designed by Thomas and Billy Bell became one of the finest par-fours in town. Los Angeles Country Club later was the site of MacDonald Smith’s fourth victory in 1934 and the 1940 victory by Lawson Little, one of the amateur golfing great’s few triumphs as a professional.

EL CABALLERO COUNTRY CLUB

Not to be confused with the modern-day El Caballero, this now-extinct Billy Bell design was built on part of Edgar Rice Burroughs’ Tarzana ranch. El Caballero featured several dramatic holes playing amid sage-covered hills, with several sandy arroyos and typical Bell bunkers that created a stern test. Cooper, winner of the inaugural Los Angeles Open, made a strong bid to defend his 1926 title here, but took nine shots on the 115-yard 17th hole en route to a final-round 83. After witnessing Bobby Cruickshank’s 1927 Los Angeles Open victory here, legendary sportswriter Grantland Rice declared El Caballero to be one of the great courses on the West Coast. However, the layout closed during World War II and was replaced by homes in the postwar real estate boom.

WILSHIRE COUNTRY CLUB

This four-time site was designed in 1919 by noted English amateur golfer Norman MacBeth. When Smith won his first of four L.A. Opens at Wilshire in 1928, the par-four 18th hole became somewhat infamous after several players fell victim to the dramatic barranca surrounding the green. Augusta National architect Alister MacKenzie later said of Wilshire: “The 18th is magnificent. It has not a single bunker, but owes its excellence to a large deep arroyo running almost the full length of the hole.”

LOS ANGELES MEMORIAL COLISEUM

No, it was not a host golf course, but the Coliseum did preside over a unique pre-tournament event, the 1941 “World’s Long Drive Contest.” Before the tournament, won that week by Johnny Bulla, the Junior Chamber of Commerce positioned a mat under the Coliseum peristyle where contestants hit drives toward the western end. Noted long driver Jimmy Thomson’s 267-yard effort edged Ben Hogan’s 260-yarder for first place. Babe Didrikson Zaharias also entered, hitting a 240-yard drive in the same stadium she had won the 1932 Olympic gold medals in the javelin and 80-meter hurdles.

HILLCREST COUNTRY CLUB

A two-time host with two world-class champions: Smith in 1932 and Ben Hogan in 1942. The Willie Watson course originally featured numerous bunkers that have since been lost. However, the dramatic 18th has always relied on a 50-foot, tightly mown grass channel fronting the green as its only defense. In 1942 Sam Snead needed to par the 18th hole to win, but after a poorly played approach shot rolled all the way back down the fronting embankment, Snead took eight and helped Hogan claim one of the first significant wins of his career. Because of the war, the Los Angeles Open was one of the few events played in 1942, and its $10,000 purse was underwritten by The Times.

GRIFFITH PARK, WILSON COURSE

This three-time Los Angeles Open site hosted Jimmy Demaret’s seven-stroke victory in 1939. The 36-hole public facility was designed and partly financed by George Thomas in 1923 when it was known as Los Angeles Municipal. Several original holes were lost during a postwar freeway expansion project, particularly on the sporty Harding Course.

FOX HILLS GOLF COURSE

This now-extinct George Thomas-Billy Bell design opened in 1927 as part of a 36-hole public golf complex. Featuring the traditional “Thomas bunkers” and creative use of native barrancas, Fox Hills folded only a few years after Fred Wampler won the 1954 tournament there. Portions of the 6,972-yard course are now occupied by the Fox Hills shopping mall in Culver City. In his book “The Missing Links,” historian Daniel Wexler pointed out that “Fox Hills would definitely remain one of the country’s tougher [and better] public facilities, likely usurping the city’s fine Rancho Park as the occasional Los Angeles Open or Senior Tour site.”

INGLEWOOD GOLF COURSE

An unknown designer created this tight, 6,328-yard, par-71 layout that once occupied much of the land where the Forum now stands. Gene Littler won the 1955 event here with an eight-under 276 despite high winds and rain. Portions of the course existed as a modified executive layout until the late 1970s.

RANCHO PARK GOLF COURSE

The famed West Los Angeles course was a 17-time Los Angeles Open site, second only to Riviera. Rancho first hosted the event from 1956 to 1967, but player complaints about course conditions forced a one-year hiatus before the event returned from 1969 to 1972. Rancho made a final appearance in 1983, when Riviera welcomed the PGA Championship. Arnold Palmer was a three-time winner at Rancho Park, but the course may be better remembered for the years Palmer failed to win his record-tying fourth Los Angeles Open. In 1961 Palmer carded a 12 on the par-five 18th hole, now immortalized with a plaque. And 1983 marked Palmer’s dramatic Saturday charge to the top of the leaderboard, still remembered for producing some of the loudest gallery roars in tournament history. With the imminent closing of Las Vegas’ Desert Inn golf course, Rancho Park will be the only course in America to have hosted events on the PGA, Senior PGA and LPGA tours. Wilshire Country Club will soon match Rancho’s feat when it hosts the LPGA City of Hope Classic in April.

BROOKSIDE GOLF COURSE

Originally a 1929 Billy Bell design, the layout was altered by famed Philadelphia architect A.W. Tillinghast along with Bell in the late 1930s to accommodate a new flood-control channel. Before the No. 1 Course was awarded the 1968 Los Angeles Open, architect Desmond Muirhead toughened the design by adding lakes on the sixth, ninth and 18th holes. Billy Casper edged Southern California natives Al Geiberger and Dave Stockton for his first of two Los Angeles Open titles.

VALENCIA COUNTRY CLUB

With Riviera hosting the 1998 U.S. Senior Open, this onetime public course-turned-exclusive club was awarded the Nissan Open. Tiger Woods lost in a sudden-death playoff to Billy Mayfair. The Robert Trent Jones design will host the SBC Senior Classic next month.

The future.

Construction has begun on a PGA Tour-operated Tournament Players Club course in Santa Clarita, but with Riviera under contract through 2005, the Nissan Open will remain at its most endearing home for the time being.

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Geoff Shackelford has written books on Riviera Country Club and golf architect George Thomas. His latest effort is “Alister MacKenzie’s Cypress Point Club” (Sleeping Bear Press).

(BEGIN TEXT OF INFOBOX / INFOGRAPHIC)

L.A. Open Courses

1. Valencia Country Club

2. El Caballero Country Club, Tarzana

3. Griffith Park, Wilson Course

4. Brookside Golf Course, Pasadena

5. Los Angeles Country Club, Los Angeles

6. Rancho Park Golf Course, Los Angeles

7. Hillcrest Country Club, Los Angeles

8. Wilshire Country Club, Los Angeles

9. Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum, Los Angeles

10. Fox Hills Golf Course, Fox Hills

11. Inglewood Golf Course, Inglewood