Max Homa vows 'to do something bigger' to help Los Angeles community in wake of fires

USA Today

14-02-2025

Max Homa vows 'to do something bigger' to help Los Angeles community in wake of fires
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Los Angeles native Max Homa on how the fires there affected him
Los Angeles native Max Homa said "it was the first time I felt like a deep connection to one of these natural disasters" as he watched the news.
LA JOLLA, Calif. – Max Homa was at home in Arizona last month when news broke of the wildfires that would ravage the greater Los Angeles area. Homa has lived through numerous natural disasters but perhaps because he grew up in Valencia, California, and considers his victory at the 2021 Genesis Invitational, the tournament he attended in his youth, to be the highlight of his career, he was glued to the news coverage in a more personal way.
'For whatever reason this one, I think because I've been to the area so much and I have family there and tons of friends there, I've driven those streets, when I turned on the news I knew exactly where they were,' he said on Tuesday during his pre-tournament press conference ahead of the Genesis Invitational. 'It just like hit me harder.'
So much so, in fact, that Homa was motivated to come up with a way to do his part in the relief effort. 'I think your gut reaction to most ideas is that's not enough, we need to do something bigger,' he said.
But on Tuesday he and two-time major winner Collin Morikawa, who grew up in the foothills of the Verdugo Mountain in L.A. County, played a few holes on Torrey Pines's North Course with Christian Cruz, a member of the Pasadena community with more than 15 years of service to both the Pasadena Unified School District and the City of Pasadena as well as a local youth soccer coach. For more than two decades, Cruz has called Altadena home, where he shares a household with his sister Carla and his beloved niece, eight-year-old Mia.
In the early hours of Jan. 8, the Eaton Fire tore through neighborhoods, reducing homes to ashes. That same night, while Christian was working at the Pasadena Emergency Shelter, helping to provide safety and care for hundreds of evacuees, he received a devastating call from his sister. With little warning, Carla and Mia were forced to flee with nothing but the clothes on their backs. While they were grateful to be safe, their lives have been upended. They are now facing the daunting reality of displacement, navigating the overwhelming challenge of rebuilding from nothing.
Genesis, the title sponsor of this week's Tour event, announced Tuesday that it is donating $8 million to wildfire relief efforts while also partnering with TGR Live, the operator of the Genesis Invitational, and the PGA Tour to launch California Rises, a fundraising initiative. During tournament competition, every shot will have extra incentive through 'Birdies for Good.' For every birdie and eagle made during the Genesis Invitational, $300 will be donated to California Rises, with $10,000 donated should a hole-in-one occur. Others in the golf world have stepped up to the plate too, including equipment-maker PXG, which pledged a $1-million matching challenge to Team Rubicon, veteran first responders leading the efforts, and lifestyle brand Johnnie-O, which has provided thousands of clothing items to victims, including Pepperdine students and local families.
Beginning at the AT&T Pebble Beach National Pro-Am and continuing this week, Morikawa said he would donate $1,000 per birdie and $2,000 per eagle to the California Community Foundation and the L.A. Fire Department Foundation.
'We've seen this too often. I think even with the most recent one for me that hit home was the Lahaina fires. Fires happen. People kind of forget and then you move on to the next cycle,' Morikawa said on Tuesday during his pre-tournament press conference. 'I realize that's how news and media works, but for how big of an impact Los Angeles has gone through with everything with the fires, you just have to keep creating awareness as much as you can. It's amazing to help out in my little bit and hopefully we make a lot of birdies starting Thursday.'
Due to the recent devastating wildfires in Los Angeles, and out of respect for those affected, the decision was made to relocate the Genesis Invitational from Riviera Country Club in Pacific Palisades to Torrey Pines' South Course, which hosted the Farmers Insurance Open three weeks earlier. It marks the first time since 2020 that two different Tour tournaments were played at the same venue in the same season: the Workday Charity Open and the Memorial Tournament were played in back-to-back weeks at Muirfield Village Golf Club in Dublin, Ohio, due to COVID-19.
First responders and firefighters from California will be on-site as guests of the tournament with exclusive access, including spots in the official tournament pro-am, interactions with Tour players and special recognition throughout the week as a thank you for their services. Ticket fees from all tickets purchased for the 2025 tournament will be donated to the California Rises initiative, and tournament attendees can purchase California Rises merchandise available at the tournament shop and Torrey Pines pro shop, with 100 percent of the proceeds going to charity.
'What I guess I kind of realized yesterday getting to see the Cruz family in person react to getting their gifts (which included a new Genesis vehicle) and hearing what Genesis and the Tour was doing to help, getting to see their faces and the emotion, almost a bit of like relief from how awful their story is. Makes you realize that like anything helps. I think that was good to see. Selfishly, it was cool to be a part of just to get to see the true joy that something like that brought them,' Homa said. 'I'm very, very proud to be from Los Angeles and I am looking forward to being a part of and continuing to watch the city rebuild and everyone come together.
'I think that's the beauty in a way of some of these awful things that happen is you get to see the massive hearts and these inspiring stories of people who will go out of their way to help a person they've never met in their life. I find that to be some kind of glimmer of sunshine in some pretty awful times… this has been inspiring to do more and to continue to try and help the best I can.'