The U.S. Women’s Open begins Thursday at Riviera Country Club in Pacific Palisades, California, bringing Nelly Korda and the rest of the world’s best players to one of the game’s most recognizable old courses. The USGA has spent the last four years studying Riviera and making site visits to shape a setup that will make this week feel different from the PGA Tour version most fans know.

That matters because Riviera is not just another championship stop. Opened in 1927, the club will host the Olympic golf course in 2028 and has long been one of the sport’s most admired venues, the kind of place where the architecture is supposed to do the talking. Shannon Rouillard said the USGA takes seriously the chance to set up classic courses for elite women’s events, and she said people should be pleasantly surprised by how the plan brings Riviera to life.

The search for this tournament now is as much about the golf course as the field. Riviera is a regular PGA Tour venue as the home of the Genesis Invitational, where Jacob Bridgeman won this year at 18 under par and Adam Scott has twice shot a 63. But some of the course’s character can disappear when players simply fly it 310 yards from the championship tees, which is why the USGA has altered the look and feel of the week so the women do not face the same game the men do.

The changes will show up most sharply on the eighth, 10th and 11th holes, which are expected to play dramatically differently for the U.S. Women’s Open than they do for the men. The par-3 fourth hole has also been lengthened to more than 270 yards for the PGA Tour, and the USGA wants the back tee box there to be too much for this championship. In other words, the setup is designed to expose more of Riviera’s bunkering and minimalist design than a power game usually allows.

That is the real question hanging over the week: whether a classic Los Angeles course that is often praised but not always fully revealed on television can deliver four rounds of real separation. The Curtis Cup follows next week at Bel-Air, extending a two-week run of women’s golf in Los Angeles, and this tournament will show whether Riviera’s reputation comes more from its name than from the version players see when the tees move and the angles matter.