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PACIFIC PALISADES, Calif. -- This is a place of stars, Riviera, far out Sunset Boulevard, a country club where Hollywood's greatest stars would hang out and play, Humphrey Bogart, Howard Hughes, Dean Martin, Katharine Hepburn. A place a golfing star named Jordan Spieth understands and appreciates.
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He won last weekend at Pebble Beach. Now he is down the coast, the suburbs of Los Angeles, looking for a double, as it were, while golf, a sport without team loyalty, a sport built on individual recognition, continues looking for the next Tiger Woods.
The tournament that began in 1927 as the Los Angeles Open, most recently was the Northern Trust Open and is now the Genesis Open, begins Thursday at Riviera.
Woods made his debut here at age 16, in 1992. Now 41, with back pain, he is not playing. He is not even talking, cancelling a scheduled press conference -- the tournament benefits the Tiger Woods Foundation -- "advised by doctors to limit all activities." Cynics wondered if he injured his vocal cords.
But if Woods remains a question, Spieth, 23, very well could be the answer.
The man knows how to play. The AT&T triumph was his ninth in 4 1/2 years since turning pro. Two of those wins were majors, the 2015 Masters and the 2015 U.S. Open.
The man knows how to communicate. He's intelligent. He's a fan. He's not Tiger. There's never going to be another Tiger. But Spieth is the next best thing, someone who understands himself, his talent and his responsibility.
After the Pebble win, Spieth received texts from Tom Brady, "which was cool," said Spieth. "I texted him right after the Super Bowl, obviously saying that was inspiring, what he was able to do."
Spieth also heard from Steph Curry, who as Spieth is under contract with Under Armour.
"It's kind of cool that these other athletes are going through ups and downs and recognizing, kind of knowing what's going on in the head on a day like Sunday (final round of the AT&T) and trying to protect the lead and how that can be a different challenge than starting tied for the lead and winning the tournament."
Spieth is a Texan, as was Ben Hogan, who won so often at Riviera -- the 1948 U.S. Open and two L.A. Opens -- they put a statute of him alongside the practice putting green and nicknamed the course "Hogan's Alley." That label is also used for Colonial Country Club in Fort Worth, where Hogan won five times and Spieth won last year.
"Riviera is a golf course where it's really nice to have some course knowledge," Spieth said. He has plenty, helping the University of Texas to the NCAA championship held here in 2012 just before he became a pro and playing in this open five times, once as an amateur.
"It's obviously special for me," Spieth said. "I feel very confident where my game's at, and I love coming back to this track. I would call it a top-five favorite track in the entire world. It's just beautiful, well-designed, and it's in phenomenal shape right now."
If Spieth has a fault, it is slow play.
"The end of last year I tried to speed things up," he said, "and I was not real content with my swing, and that's a bad combination. I've tried to anticipate when I'm hitting this year and therefore be ready. Even if I spend the same amount of time over the ball, I'm at least ahead of the time getting the numbers.
"Right now, I feel real loose, just feel free-flowing. It's awesome the week after a win. That kind of burdened over, just to grab one and free me up. It just changes the mental approach, but at the same time, it's also very cool walking through, and the guys on the Tour saying congrats and the caddies saying congrats.
"It's a good feeling, but now it's time it's forgotten and time to go for the next one."
At Riviera, where the stars always have congregated.
