The Los Angeles Country Club is playing host to golf’s greatest players during the U.S. Open. (photo by United States Golf Association)

For the first time in its history, the Los Angeles Country Club is hosting the U.S. Open, one of golf’s biggest tournaments, which runs from June 15-June 18. It marks the first time in 75 years that any club in L.A. has hosted the tournament, Los Angeles Country Club President Gene Sykes said.

“There’s so much excitement about what’s happening here,” Sykes added. “This is going to be a special and very memorable U.S. Open.”

Designed by famous golf architect George Thomas in the 1920s and restored in 2009-10, the course is bisected by Wilshire Boulevard and abuts some of the most storied real estate in Beverly Hills, including the Playboy Mansion.

While not a golfer himself, Beverly Hills Mayor Julian Gold said he was happy that the tournament was drawing new visitors to the area, a trend he anticipates will continue as L.A. plays host to the 2026 FIFA World Cup and the 2028 Summer Olympics.

“More and more, the L.A. region is on the map as a station for these incredible events,” Gold said.

With the tournament ending on the same day as Beverly Hills’ Concours D’Elegance 2023, a luxury car show on Rodeo Drive, Gold hopes attendees and competitors enjoy the city’s dining and shopping attractions, he added.

The U.S. Open is taking place shortly after the golf world was rocked by news of a merger between the U.S.-based PGA Tour and LIV Golf, a new league backed by Saudi Arabia’s Public Investment Fund. However, Sykes said he was confident the news, as well as Saudi Arabia’s record of human rights abuses, will not overshadow the competition.

“I think people are going to be focused on what happens on the course,” Sykes said. “People are just interested to see these great golfers compete, [and] to be outdoors in a special place like this and participate in something that is very memorable and very much part of our experience in Los Angeles.”

Because the tournament is an “open” format, meaning any golfer was eligible to compete in the qualifying tournaments, the roster includes amateurs as well as some of the sport’s most recognizable names, including Rory McIlroy and World No. 1 Scottie Scheffler, Sykes said. He added that the excitement was heightened by the fact that most of the competitors are playing the course for the first time.

“A lot of people are learning about it and finding out what’s the best way to score well,” Sykes said.

The Los Angeles Country Club course was designed by famed golf architect George Thomas in the 1920s. (photo courtesy of the PGA Tour)

Bringing the U.S. Open to the Los Angeles Country Club has been an effort more than a decade in the making, Sykes said. Sykes has been a member of the club since 2000, and he became president in December 2022. While he was not involved in the early stages of the bidding process, he was the CEO of the committee that submitted the bid for the 2028 Summer Olympics and he said there was a similar process for preparing to host the U.S. Open.

“You do a lot of [preparation] work that envisions what we want to do, but the intensive part happens in the few years before the event,” Sykes said.

Sykes added that the Los Angeles Country Club is committed to giving back to the city’s golf community and is working with organizations including the Southern California Golf Association and the United States Golf Association to raise money for the Maggie Hathaway Golf Course, a public course in South Los Angeles.

An entertainer, activist and journalist, Hathaway led the effort to desegregate municipal golf courses in L.A., Sykes said. The club and its partner organizations are close to reaching their fundraising target of $15 million, he added.

“We honor her legacy and attach the legacy of the U.S. Open here to restoring that golf course and making it an even better place for that local community to train young kids … and make it a great resource for that area,” Sykes said.

On June 13, Sykes said limited tickets are still available for the practice rounds, though fans can watch the tournament on NBC and its affiliated networks, and streaming service Peacock.