[Photo: Lester Cohen]
Megan Watanabe sat in the quaint tower room atop Riviera Country Club, overlooking the iconic golf course that’s been owned by her family since 1989 and managed by her for the past 15 years.
A gentle breeze came through the open window in the room where prospective members have their final interview. It’s where exclusive deals are closed. Watanabe [above, far left] looked around with pride as the best female golfers in the world walked the famed fairways for a practice round ahead of the 81st US Women’s Open.
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Women have never played a major championship in the greater Los Angeles area, which is befuddling. But Watanabe, Riviera’s president and chief executive, was the one to close to the deal.
For more than a decade, Watanabe, the daughter of Riviera owner Noboru Watanabe, has presented her case to the USGA for a major. She was the long-time vice-president of the club, and it’s been four years since she was promoted to its top executive position. Overseeing this major at Riviera is a dream finally realised.
The club first learned in 2023 that it had landed the 2031 US Open. Later, Watanabe was asked by the USGA if they’d host the 2026 US Women’s Open, and Riviera happily obliged. Watanabe was emotional as she recalled the joy of bringing a major back to the club, which last hosted one of the men’s big four in 1995 with the PGA Championship that Australia’s Steve Elkington won.
“When they first told us, I said, ‘We’re really happy and excited, but can we have that in writing?’ Then I called my father and we both cried,” Watanabe said in an interview with Golf Digest. “We couldn’t believe it. My father told me that he didn’t think this would happen in his lifetime.”
For decades, Megan Watanabe heard all the reasons why Riviera couldn’t host a major. The traffic, the small footprint of the property, the lack of affordable hotels nearby, a limitation on fans and much more. She chose to spin it another direction.
The Riviera clubhouse overlooks the driving range as Youmin Hwang practises. [Photo: Logan Whitton]
“I kept telling [the USGA] we need to be more innovative if they wanted to do it here, not looking at all the aspects and reasons we can’t do it,” Watanabe said. “How can we bring it to Riviera? I told them if they’re bringing 70,000 to 100,000 fans every day, no, we probably won’t be able to do that. If we’re doing half or a quarter of the fans, we can do a more premium version of the US Open. They might not do that every single year, but we can do that in LA, because LA fans are used to paying premium and they like premium experiences. Those are the conversations I’ve had for the past 10 years.”
John Bodenhamer, the USGA’s chief championships officer, knows Watanabe well. He said she hasn’t missed attending a US Women’s Open or US Open in the past 15 years. He described her desire to get a USGA major back to Riviera as “gracious perseverance”.
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Riviera also hosted the 2017 US Amateur, which the USGA appreciated. All things were pointing towards a US Open one day. And then there came two within five years.
“Megan has been just a magnificent partner,” Bodenhamer said at Riviera on Tuesday. “She epitomises class and integrity. I can’t speak highly enough about how it has been to work with Megan, and she sets the tone for the entire club. It’s just been a great joy.
“I remember when we said we’d be honoured bringing the US Open here in 2031, and it was a few months later that we came back as we began contemplating the next 10 or 15 years for the Women’s Open. I wasn’t quite sure how she’d react to a US Women’s Open, but it was instantaneous. They’d love to have us.”
Riviera is the long-time host of PGA Tour event, the Genesis Invitational hosted by Tiger Woods, but it couldn’t land the coveted majors. Watanabe would pose with Woods and the Genesis winner on the 18th green. She attended many PGA Tour events and talked to golfers. When some would tell her they’d love to see the US Open back at Riviera, she told them to tell the USGA.
She enlisted everyone she could think of, and now she’ll be back on that green come Sunday, but this time crowning a US Women’s Open champion.
USGA signage as seen on the 18th hole as seen from the practice green. [Photo: Logan Whitton]
“I told my father we needed to get the US Open back at Riviera,” Watanabe said. “At first he was like, ‘No, I don’t think they’re going to come back.’ I kept going to the USGA meetings to try to understand what they wanted for the US Open and to try to understand our position. We’re surrounded by homes. We have limited parking spaces. We don’t have the luxury of using another 18 holes for hospitality tents, but I kept going and communicating and giving them examples of places like Merion, which is the same size as us. They do the US Open every 10 years. Shinnecock is hosting the US Open this year. That’s probably around the same size and also very difficult to get to from the city. I knew if they wanted to do it at Riviera, and if the players wanted to win a US Open here, there’s a way. I kept communicating my ideas.”
This year, the club is celebrating its 100th anniversary, and Watanabe will host fans from around the world on a national and international stage on NBC. It’s just the beginning of high-profile events that will be here. Beyond the US Opens, men’s and women’s golf will be played at Riviera in the 2028 Los Angeles Olympics. It’s an incredible five-year stretch.
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Watanabe could be shouting out the window from that perch of the tower room that she finally did it. She could be flexing and bragging and the toast of every party in the Pacific Palisades this week. She’d have every right to do it, too.
But that’s not her style. She has three children with husband Hideya Terashima, including two daughters (12 and 8) and an 11-year-old son.
“I tell my daughters that I didn’t get into this business thinking I wanted to be the CEO of Riviera Country Club and that I wanted to be involved in history,” Watanabe said. “But I’ve been in this role for 16 years and there’s things I thought wouldn’t be possible at first. That was 10 years ago. And now we have the Women’s Open and the US Open, things that even my father thought would not be possible. What I tell them is that if you have a goal in mind and you work hard, no matter how long it will take, it is possible. I didn’t do any of this on my own. I had so much help.
“What I think helped was believing that we’d be able to accomplish this. You know that you can’t do this on your own. I’m just talking to everyone I see and saying can you help me? Can you do this? This is what I want to accomplish. It’s really hard to believe in yourself, but that’s the only message I can say. I didn’t have a magic wand to get the US Opens or the Olympics. Just believing and having a positive mindset helps.”
It’s also been a difficult stretch as the Palisades Fire in 2025 devastated the area. The Riviera property spared, although there was much clean-up. Watanabe’s own family was evacuated for a few months, but she dealt with 50 or so members who lost their homes. Preparing for the US Women’s Open was put on hold for a bit. Slowly but surely things have trended towards normalcy.
Born and raised in Japan, Watanabe went to boarding school in Ojai and graduated from Pepperdine University. Her father has long told her that she has a Japanese heart and American brain.
She went to work for her father in an industry dominated by men. Watanabe often gets asked what that’s like – even by the lone female caddie at Riviera – and she responds that she’s not focused on it because she sees people for who they are, not by their gender.
“You can tell she’s a boss lady and that she will get what she wants,” said Maja Stark, the reigning US Women’s Open champion. “It was really cool to hang out with her. She seemed really excited to have the US Women’s Open here. It’s so cool. We need more people like her to bring us to the cool places. Obviously, people think it’s awesome we get to be here to play at Riviera. Even if they’re not here to watch us, they’re here for the merch. And then they get to watch us and see, ‘Oh, they’re pretty good.’”
Slowly, but surely, there are more women in golf’s executive positions, and Watanabe’s successes are shattering barriers and showing other girls and women the possibilities to make strides in golf.
“She’s just another great example on the inspirational side of things,” Bodenhamer said. “She’s done what a lot of women would aspire to doing. I have a daughter. She’s a high-powered lawyer in Washington, DC. I couldn’t be more proud of her. She grew up a dancer and a soccer player. She didn’t have any friends that played golf. To see other women and young girls be inspired to play more, that’s great. You look at the demographics of the game, the women’s game is growing. We want to do everything we can to keep that going.”
Three years ago, Watanabe met with current world No.1 Nelly Korda and asked how she could help support players and learn what they’d need to prepare for this week.
While Watanabe didn’t set out to break barriers, that’s exactly what she’s doing.
“I think it’s really great for us, because we can see that golf is such a male-dominated field with so many of our coaches and agents and everyone,” Stark said. “It’s almost all men. Getting to see that there are other paths in golf where you can get to the highest level and you can be the boss and you don’t have to be scared of that position, it’s really cool.”
And something that doesn’t have to be announced from a top perch at Riviera.
