Iconic Riviera CC in evacuation zone for Pacific Palisades wildfire

The iconic Riviera Country Club is being threatened while in the mandatory evacuation zone for the Pacific Palisades fire northwest of Los Angeles.

Riviera is the venue for the PGA Tour's Genesis Invitational, the annual tournament hosted by Tiger Woods that is scheduled to be played Feb. 13-16.

The Pacific Palisades fire began Tuesday morning and quickly spread to cover more than 15,000 acres while destroying more than 100 properties and threatening countless more. Among those is Riviera, with pictures on social media Wednesday showing the course in front of the thick black smoke of the wildfires in the background.

Riviera Country Club is currently in a mandatory evacuation zone due to wildfires.

These images are from about four hours ago, you can see the course in the foreground. The wildfires are currently predicted to spread in the direction of the course.

Not a great scene. pic.twitter.com/PwOxluifcG

— Tee Times (@TeeTimesPub) January 8, 2025

A reporter covering this week's Sony Open in Honolulu said that he had received word that Riviera had not been harmed by the fires as of Wednesday afternoon.

"It's sad because I played with four guys from LA today, and they're stressed out," Keegan Bradley said from the Sony Open. "Their families had to evacuate, and their homes could be gone. It's sad."

The fire was zero percent continued as of Wednesday afternoon local time.

Established in 1926 in the Pacific Palisades neighborhood, Riviera has played host to a PGA Tour event every years since 1973 with the exception of 1983 and 1998. It also hosted the Los Angeles Open in 1929, 1930 and from 1945-53, along with the 1948 U.S. Open and the PGA Championship in 1983 and 1995.

The course is slated to host the 2026 U.S. Women's Open, the 2028 Summer Olympics and the 2031 U.S. Open.

--Field Level Media