Hole-by-hole at Riviera Country Club

NORTHERN TRUST OPEN

Schedule: Thursday-Sunday.

Course: Riviera Country Club (7,322 yards, par 71), Pacific Palisades.

Purse: $6.8 million. Winner’s share: $1,224,000.

Television: Golf Channel (Thursday-Friday, 2-5 p.m.; Saturday-Sunday, 10-11:30 a.m.) and Channel 2 (Saturday, noon-3 p.m.; Sunday, noon- 3:30 p.m.).

Last year: James Hahn won his first PGA Tour title. He made a 25-foot birdie putt on the third hole of a playoff with Dustin Johnson. Paul Casey was eliminated on the second extra hole.

Key players: Top-ranked Jordan Spieth and No. 3 Rory McIlroy are in the field. No. 6-ranked Bubba Watson won in 2014; two-time winner Fred Couples is making his record 34th start in the event; Charl Schwartzel is coming off an eight-stroke victory in South Africa in the European Tour’s Tshwane Open.

Riviera Country Club, hole by hole:

No. 1 Par 5, 503 yards: A good hole for a fast start. With the tee 75 feet above the fairway, a long drive can set up for a birdie or eagle. But there’s out of bounds on the left and trees on the right.

No. 2 Par 4, 471 yards: One of the course’s most demanding holes. A slight dogleg right with OB left and trees on the right requires a long yet straight tee shot, and the approach faces a heavily bunkered green.

No. 3 Par 4, 434 yards: Another slight dogleg right often straight into the wind. A slight fade off the tee sets up a second shot that faces a large bunker in front of the green.

No. 4 Par 3, 236 yards: A difficult par-three that requires anywhere from a three-iron to a three-wood, depending on the wind. The green slopes severely from right to left and is guarded by a large bunker.

No. 5 Par 4, 434 yards: A modest dogleg left that also heads into the wind, yet a slight fade off the tee often is preferred to set up the approach.

No. 6 Par 3, 199 yards: A signature hole at Riviera that features a bunker in the middle of the green. Land on the wrong side of the bunker and a player must chip over it or putt around it.

No. 7 Par 4, 408 yards: Not a long hole but a treacherous one. A hump in the preferred fairway landing area off the tee could send the ball into a bunker or out of bounds.

No. 8 Par 4, 460 yards: On this hole with split fairways, a tee shot to the left leaves a middle iron to the narrow green while one down the right side leaves a shorter shot to the green but one that must carry a barranca.

No. 9 Par 4, 458 yards: Straight back uphill toward the clubhouse, this hole has fairway bunkers that can come into play when teeing off and two bunkers the guard the right front of the green.

No. 10 Par 4, 315 yards: A classic risk/reward hole because it challenges players to try to hit their drives to the narrow green nearly surrounded by bunkers or lay up on the left side of the fairway.

No. 11 Par 5, 583 yards: Two well-placed shots set up an easy pitch for a possible birdie, but a wayward tee shot means either laying up in front of a barranca or trying to go over it.

No. 12 Par 4, 479 yards: A lengthy par-four that often requires an approach with a long iron that has to hit a narrow green guarded on the right by a deep bunker.

No. 13 Par 4, 459 yards: A slight dogleg to the left and into the wind, this hole requires an accurate tee shot because there’s a barranca on the left and trees on both sides of the fairway.

No. 14 Par 3, 192 yards: This hole’s wide green often makes the flagstick appear closer than it actually is, and there are three large and deep bunkers in front of the elevated green.

No. 15 Par 4, 487 yards: The last of the back nine’s into-the-wind par fours, it’s a sharp dogleg right that rewards a long, well-played tee shot but challenges big hitters to cut the right corner to shorten their approach.

No. 16 Par 3, 166 yards: A small green, but any shot landing there provides a realistic birdie opportunity. Several steep bunkers guard the green.

No. 17 Par 5, 590 yards: The longest hole on the course. Two well-played shots set up an approach to a two-tiered green that slopes from back to front, making downhill putts treacherous.

No. 18 Par 4, 475 yards: One of most famous finishing holes in golf, it starts with a blind tee shot to an elevated fairway, then requires an approach to a kidney-shaped green below the clubhouse in a natural amphitheater.

--Jim Peltz