Monday At The 81st U.S. Women's Open

Riviera's in perfect shape and there's plenty to check out ahead of the year's biggest women's major. A few looks at what to expect, plus a few Quotables.

Nearly every member of this year’s field was out testing the historic venue’s intricacies. And why not when it’s 72 degrees, a comforting sea breeze is coming off the Pacific, and there is an impeccably groomed course ready to play?

The sight of so many U.S. Women’s Open contestants sorting out course details instead of laboring over their “numbers” highlights one of the many refreshing differences between the men and women. I’ll try not to drill home the contrasts as the U.S. Women’s Open Presented by Ally too excessively.

Here are a few video looks at what I saw between Riviera in balmy June versus February, starting with the kikuyu rough.

The gnarly grass imported long ago from Kenya will be topped at two inches this week, though we’ll find out if it will be allowed to grow as the championship unfolds…

Riviera’s three par-5s will be a big story this week.

• There is the traditional nervousness experienced by every great player of the modern game starts high above the first fairway.

• The length of No. 11 will be a big story this week.

• There’s the surprisingly short yardage at the 17th to make the penultimate hole a nice final chance for birdie coming home.

We start with a look at the boomerang first green and one of the firmer, faster approaches…if there is such a thing with kikuyu grass. The approaches are cut at .350” this week and pretty amazing to clip shots off of, but they can be much more unpredictable when the ball lands…