1981 Famous as one of golf’s great front-runners, California native Johnny Miller wins his one and only Los Angeles Open by tying for the 54-hole lead at 202, then closing with a 68 for a 270 total, good enough to edge Tom Weiskopf by two.  Though somewhat past his indomitable prime of the mid-1970s, Miller will continue to win PGA Tour events into his mid-40s before becoming a popular TV broadcaster.

1982 Already a Los Angeles Open champion in 1980, Tom Watson wins at Riviera for a second time, and in dramatic fashion.  Initially Watson gets a great break: leading by two strokes with two holes to play, Johnny Miller closes with back-to-back bogeys, allowing Watson to join him in a playoff.  There, after getting up-and-down from bunkers at the 15th and 16th, Watson holes a 45-foot birdie putt at the 17th to secure victory.

1983 Thirty-five years after hosting the 1948 U.S. Open, Riviera welcomes  its second Major championship,  the 1983 PGA, which is won in an exciting Sunday duel by 25-year-old up-and-comer Hal Sutton.  Opening with rounds of 65-66, Sutton leads throughout but is challenged late in the final round by both Jack Nicklaus and Peter Jacobsen.  Nicklaus,  on the strength of a closing 66, eventually moves to within one before Sutton bravely pars the final four holes to hang on, edging the Golden Bear by a single stroke.

1985 Playing under some of the most benign course conditions in tournament history, Lanny Wadkins cards rounds of 63 and 64 during a four day blitz that earns him his second Los Angeles Open title.  His 264 total routs Hal Sutton by seven strokes, and sets a 72-hole Riviera scoring record which remains unequaled to this day.