Los Angeles has been in tatters, and it has impacted many! The fires ravaging the place for over a week have claimed at least 25 lives, displaced thousands, and devastated more than 12,000 buildings, making this disaster one of the most expensive in the nation’s history. As the flames continue to consume homes and businesses, the toll on the community grows heavier with each passing day.

At the post-round presser of TGL on Tuesday, Sahith Theegala spoke about the LA fires and how badly he wanted to be home. He was in Honolulu, playing at the Sony Open during that time, and the fires had kept him distracted. Maybe that was why he finished with a T37. While talking about how people have been affected, he spoke about his caddie Carl Smith, and how he stuck by him.

“A lot of my friends and family evacuated, and I hope Carl doesn’t mind me sharing this, but his sister’s house burned down, and he stuck it through on my bag last week, and he was here this week. I know his family is having a hard time,” said Theegala. Carl has been caddying since 2015 and shares a pretty good bond. When inside the ropes, the two rarely talk about golf. Their chat is usually about basketball.

The story of how the pair got together is pretty interesting; “Funny story, [Carl Smith] recruited me at Pepperdine, he was the assistant coach at Pepperdine, he recruited me, watched so many of my events, and him and Michael Beard the head coach there were two of the biggest reasons why I wanted to go to Pepperdine. And [Smith] actually ended up leaving to caddie right before I got there, so it kind of worked full circle that he actually caddied for me in the Korn Ferry Finals, those two final events and got me to the Tour, so it was pretty cool how that worked out.”

Theegala thanked brave first-line workers for putting their lives at risk, for the people,  “A lot of resilient people. A huge shout-out to the first responders. They’re putting their lives on the line to save not only people’s lives but people’s livelihoods.”

On Tuesday, a brief lull in the winds offered some relief to the exhausted firefighters, but the National Weather Service’s dire warnings of critical fire weather remain, with no end in sight. Most people prefer to go back to their hometowns, to help out their families, and stay close to them, but Smith’s determination speaks volumes.

The 27-year-old shared his condolences for the losses of the LA people and is also glad to be returning to LA to be of support.

Sahith Theegala takes his win in the TGL as relief from ongoing tragedies

Sahith Theegala has been playing consecutively. His team, Los Angeles Golf Club, delivered a commanding performance against Tiger Woods’s Jupiter Links GC in the second match of the TGL season. LAGC, consisting of Collin Morikawa, Sahith Theegala, and Justin Rose, triumphed over Jupiter Links, with an impressive 12-1 victory. He will now finally go back to LA. 

“My heart breaks for them so bad. I’m going to be back there tomorrow, and it’s just going to be nice to be back with some friends and family, and like I said, hopefully take joy in some of these wins that are happening in sports. It’s a good distraction”, he said. However, the news only keeps getting worse.

As Theegala said, there had been another fire at the Jurupa Valley, and there was no end to it. “hopefully by some miracle of God or something we get some rain and all these fires get put out,” prayed Theegala. Rain would help since there is no water left. But it surely will be difficult even after the fire goes out, because of the massive losses.

Nonetheless, he is hopeful that the city will bounce back! Have you been of any help lately to aiding a victim of the LA fires in any way? Let us know in the comments section below!