PALM BEACH GARDENS, Fla. — Tiger Woods is not positive what’s going to occur subsequent month’s Genesis Invitational, the PGA Tour occasion he is internet hosting within the fire-ravaged Pacific Palisades neighborhood of Los Angeles.
He insists there have to be a lot larger issues.
Woods stated Tuesday evening — after his debut within the TGL Indoor Golf League, which he helped develop — that conferences have been scheduled about what would occur to the event, however he didn’t reveal any choices or recommend the occasion may very well be moved from the Riviera Nation Membership.
“We’re simply attempting to determine the whole lot out and ensure everyone seems to be protected and we now have conferences deliberate going ahead,” Woods stated. “However we’re probably not targeted on the event in the meanwhile. It is extra about what we are able to do to assist all those that are struggling, who’ve misplaced houses and whose lives have been modified.”
Woods, who grew up in Southern California, stated he knew “two individuals who misplaced the whole lot.”
“It is simply robust,” Woods stated.
The PGA Tour has not introduced any modifications to its plans to play Genesis, set for Feb. 13-16. Riviera to host golf on the 2028 Olympics – is situated very near areas which have been devastated by the fires. The course itself isn’t immediately affected.
Woods’ TGL teammate Max Homa — additionally a Southern California native — stated event golf’s standing needs to be removed from anybody’s thoughts proper now.
“I do know these pure disasters occur all too typically. Nevertheless, this was the primary one which I can bear in mind the place each information clip, each time somebody talked about an space, I might image it so effectively,” Homa stated. “It was very eerie. Fortunately all my family and friends are protected. The homes aren’t essentially intact, nevertheless it was good to have the ability to speak to fairly a number of folks and I believe their perspective was wonderful about, “Hey, we’re protected and that is an important factor.”
Tickets have been nonetheless on sale Tuesday for Genesis, although nobody is aware of what’s going to occur within the subsequent few weeks — or whether or not it would even be doable to play a event in Los Angeles.
“There are such a lot of different issues which are larger than that,” Woods stated. “We now have follow-up conferences to attempt to determine this all out.”
It was a tricky evening for Woods, who got here out with “Eye of the Tiger” as his TGL exit tune, and his Jupiter Hyperlinks crew, which misplaced 12-1 in its first TGL to Los Angeles Golf Membership.
Colin Morikawa – a part of Tuesday’s successful facet – stated Metropolis’s efficiency weighed closely on him and team-mates Justin Rose and Sahit Tigala.
Fires burning via houses and companies in Los Angeles for every week have killed a minimum of 25 folks, displaced 1000’s and destroyed greater than 12,000 buildings in what often is the costliest set of fires within the nation’s historical past.
“You assume it is over, nevertheless it’s not,” Morikawa stated. “The winds are choosing up. The fires proceed. Individuals are nonetheless on the market combating the fires, defending their homes, serving to their neighbors, serving to their communities. That is why LA is such a terrific metropolis for me. You see all of the folks coming collectively.
Morikawa wore an “LA Sturdy” T-shirt, which is being offered to lift cash for hearth aid efforts.
Tigala, like Morikawa, has deep ties to Southern California — he was born and raised within the space and went to varsity in Pepperdine. He stated his caddy’s sister misplaced her house within the fires.
“I used to be on the Pepperdine campus in the course of the Woolsey hearth in ’18. and it appears to me that this has been happening for the final six, seven years. There isn’t a delay,” Tigala stated. “Earlier than the primary hearth occurred, it did not appear actual in any respect. You see fires occurring, burning homes, destroying folks’s lives, and if you see it proper in entrance of your eyes, it is as actual because it will get and it is scarier than any media picture. It’s extra horrible than something described.”
Morikawa stated he was proud to have the ability to give the folks of Los Angeles a distraction for a number of hours, because the Los Angeles Rams did of their NFC wild-card victory Monday evening — a recreation that was moved to Arizona due to wildfires.
“We’re in all probability the latest crew in Los Angeles, however to have back-to-back wins with the Rams after which with us … you are laughing at that, I do know,” Morikawa stated. “However look, we do not take this evenly.”
