Legends of stage and screen, as well as some of golf's own most storied characters, have walked the fairways at venerable Riviera Country Club in the years since it first opened in 1927.

Gregory Peck, Glen Campbell, Peter Falk and Dean Martin have all been counted among the celebrity members. Sam Snead, Byron Nelson, Hale Irwin, Ben Crenshaw, Fred Couples, Ernie Els and Tom Watson are just a few of the pros who have won tournaments there.

Riviera's enduring legacy, though, is its association with Ben Hogan, who captured what is now called the Nissan Open in 1942, 1947 and 1948. He was second to Nelson in 1946 and Snead in 1950, as well. Small wonder, then, that Riviera is known as "Hogan's Alley."

Since the turn of this century, though, no one has mastered Riviera better than Mike Weir, who won the Nissan Open in 2003 and 2004.

The diminutive Canadian made up a seven-stroke deficit to win the first time, eventually beating Charles Howell III with a birdie on the second playoff hole in 2003. Weir was the frontrunner a year later in his successful title defense, taking a five-stroke lead into the rainy final round and holding off a hard-charging Shigeki Maruyama.

So who better than to describe Riveria's three finishing holes than Weir, who returns to Pacific Palisades this week playing extremely well. The 35-year-old is coming off a third-place finish at the AT&T Pebble Beach National Pro-Am on Sunday.

After playing in the Nissan Open pro-am on Wednesday, Weir talked with PGA TOUR media official Todd Budnick about the challenge.

"The last three holes -- I would say that there is a lot of drama that could happen there," said Weir. "You have a good little par-3 on No. 16 that depending on the wind can play pretty tough. Seventeen, again, depending on the wind can be reachable for some of the longer guys.

"Then 18, is just a bear. Downwind you can have a medium iron to a 6- or 7-iron in there but into the wind you can have 3-wood.

"They are great finishing holes and they always play a big part in determining the winner of the tournament."

Editor's note: To learn more on Mike Weir, please visit www.mikeweir.com.