The exact moment that triggered this realization escapes me.Was it on the cart ride back to the Riveria clubhouse, in the heart of a particularly golden hour, watching a well-known Hollywood actor politely beg his way past the rare door closed to him?Or was it some 16 hours later, as I stood on the first tee box at Bel-Air, and looked out over the fairway below me and the Los Angeles skyline in the distance?Perhaps it was at some point during the USGA media day circuit — 36 holes over two days at a pair of top-100, elite clubs — where I was routinely gobsmacked by the challenges and thrilled by the opportunities?Who’s to say, but as the U.S. Women’s Open at Riveria begins Thursday in Pacific Palisades, Calif., with the Curtis Cup at Bel-Air to follow next week in L.A., it became clear what this is all about.Gen Z loves to talk about vibes, but these next two weeks are all about vibrancy. The vibrancy of George C. Thomas’ course designs; of Los Angeles; and of the current and future stars of women’s golf, having a moment in primetime.“We have this unique opportunity to set up golf courses at a lot of classic, fantastic, iconic venues that the best female players in the world just don’t get to play on a week-to-week basis. We take that seriously,” said Shannon Rouillard, the USGA’s senior director of championships.The U.S. Women’s Open, the major of all majors for women’s golf, is taking on Riviera, a renowned course that hosts the PGA Tour’s Genesis Invitational each year and will be the Olympic golf course in 2028. It’s a championship test of the highest order, and if some of the uniqueness of a major championship is lost when the event takes place at a familiar location, this particular tournament will make Thomas’ design stand out in new ways.