PHIL LOPEZ: Good morning, everyone. My name is Phil Lopez, and I have the privilege of serving as the general manager here at El Caballero Country Club, affectionally known as El Cab to all of us that love it.
Many thanks to our board of directors in the back of the room.
Our dedicated membership and our incredible staff, it is our distinct pleasure to welcome you to the 2025 JM Eagle LA Championship presented by Plastpro. We are honored and excited to host this premier event on the LPGA Tour and share our club's commitment to history and excellence with you.
El Caballero has long been devoted to supporting women's golf. Our legacy includes hosting an LPGA Tour event from 2002 to 2004 where Hall of Fame champion, Seri Pak and Annika Sorenstam, left their mark. We have proudly hosted two USGA championships, most recently the 75th U.S. Girls' Junior Championship this past summer.
Designed by the legendary architect, Robert Trent Jones, Sr., our golf course is challenging yet rewarding. Ten years ago, we invested in a transformative $10 million renovation guided by his son and renowned architect himself, Rees Jones.
Two decades ago, this golf course posed a formidable challenge to the world's best players, and we eagerly anticipate seeing today's top female professionals take it on.
Beyond the game, El Caballero has always stood for inclusivity and community. Founded in 1957 by Bernie Shapiro, the club was built on principles that were groundbreaking at the time, ensuring that race, color, creed, gender or religious belief would never be barriers to membership.
Instead, Mr. Shapiro envisioned a club where members were defined by their character and generosity, values that continue to guide us today.
We would like to extend our deepest appreciation to Walter and Shirley Wang for their unwavering commitment to this championship and to the greater Los Angeles community. Through their leadership at JM Eagle and Plastpro, they have not only elevated this tournament, but have also made a profound impact on wildfire relief and recovery efforts throughout the region. Their generosity and vision inspire us all, and we are honored to partner with them in making this event a success.
As we embark on this exciting journey toward the championship, we look forward to working with each of you to share the incredible stories that will unfold here at El Cab.
I'll leave you with the timeless words of our founder. Life is both play and pilgrimage. Life is good work, and work's reward is good friends, good food, good sports, and good times.
Thank you for being here today. We hope you enjoy your time at El Cab. I'm going it turn it over to Jeremy Friedman. Thank you.
JEREMY FRIEDMAN: Good morning, everybody. We have a packed house here today. Thank you, everybody, for coming here today. Just a couple of quick housekeeping items, and then we will get going with our panelists.
As Phil said, my name is Jeremy Friedman. I'm the media director for the JM Eagle LA Championship presented by Plastpro taking place here at El Caballero this year, and I'm the head of PR for Outlyr, our tournament operator here.
Phil, I would like to say thank you to you and the board of directors of the club. Larry Abramson, the president of El Cab for host of us today and this great media day, the great lunch we're going to have and the fantastic golf we're going to have. It's an outdoor sport, so drizzle doesn't hurt anybody, so it's going to be fun today.
We've got a few great sessions coming up on our media day today. I want to give a big thank you to all of our panelists that are here today. We have several -- first off, Walter and Shirley Wang, presenting sponsors of our great championship. Hannah Green, our two-time defending champion at the JM Eagle LA Championship. Mo Martin, the 2014 AIG Women's Open champion and Los Angeles resident. Mo, thank you for being here today. Chris Stine, president of the LA Firemen's Relief Association. Chris and everybody here, thank you. Jill Painter Lopez, she is with CBS LA and with Golf Digest. She will be moderating, kind of my tag team partner this afternoon.
Also, you see a lot of folks in uniform here. LAPD, LAFD, LASD. Thank you for being here. Thank you for what you do. Not only for day in and day out, you keep our community safe, but for -- I could speak on behalf of everybody here, thank you for just the amazing work that you guys have done for the past couple of months. We will get more into that here in one of our panels.
Without further ado, Walter and Shirley, if you wouldn't mind coming up, taking a seat REIT here.
2023 marked the dawn of a new era with the LPGA Tour in Los Angeles with the new title and presenting sponsors, JM Eagle and Plastpro, with the JM Eagle LA Championship presented by Plastpro.
What Walter and Shirley have done for this championship in the past couple years, we'll get a little more into this. The first year, they doubled the purse from $1.5 to $3 million. It became the first regular season event on the LPGA Tour to feature a $3 million purse.
The goal that -- I think the goal for Walter and Shirley is, they wanted to -- I call it trend setters. They wanted to basically just help elevate the championship, but see -- have other LPGA Tour events take notice. They were the first LPGA event to feature a $3 million purse. This year, we have 11. In 2024, they elevated the purse even more to $3.75 million. This year, this tournament takes on -- as we all see here, it takes on a new tone. We'll get a little bit into that.
The tournament field here, before we start Q & A, the field is shaping up to be a tremendous field. We've got -- headlined by Ms. Hannah Green. Current World No. 1 Nelly Korda is here. We have 14 of the 18 top players in the Rolex women's world golf rankings that are going to be at our championship. For those who followed last night, Lilia Vu, Fountain Valley resident, she's world No. 6. Oh, so close winning last night, lost in a playoff. She will be here. We have several additional Los Angeles based players that are here. Rose Zhang is going to be here. UCLA alum, Ryann O'Toole will be here. Andrea Lee will be here. There's a lot of great momentum with this championship.
In addition, announcing today, which you guys have the news release on several other early commitments in our second sponsor exemption. So Lexi Thompson, she's, quote-unquote, semi-retired. I guess that's the best way to phrase it. So she will be at our championship. Brooke Henderson, 2023 champion, will be here. Anna Nordqvist, the European women's Solheim Cup captain, will be here. Stacy Lewis, the two-time U.S. Solheim Cup captain, will be here.
There's a lot of momentum coming into this championship. Walter and Shirley, I'm going to kick start this with you with the field that's here and with the field that's coming, and looking back to last year -- with all the great momentum that this tournament has developed, the LPGA recognized it as the 2024 LPGA tournament of the year. Which is awesome.
If you guys would take a look back at the start of the journey the past couple years, and then look ahead to 2025 from the playing side, and the competitor side, the LPGA side, and we'll get into the LA fire really shortly?
WALTER WANG: Well, seriously, it started because my wife allowed me to do this. Shirley is very supportive.
In 2022, when I played the pro-am at Wilshire CC, I was with the DA Foundation, and our work is to do drop prevention and education. So they had a pro-am, and I joined. And I don't know if it's coincidence or not, our director of sales David was in the group with us, and we were talking, and he gave me a lot of numbers, and I found out that the -- this tournament, the purse is $1.5 million. I asked him, well, what about these women athletes, expenses every year, and it was average -- I think the income was $140,000 if I remember correctly, and the expenses about $120,000. It's very difficult. I think about this, and he goes, do you want to think about doing this. I said, let me think.
I went back to talk to Shirley. I said, if we're going to do this, let's do it right. So that's really exactly the reason that we doubled the purse.
Really the first year, we were really bright eyed and bushy tailed. Are we going to do this? How does this work? How does all the logistics, functions work? But Outlyr is great. We went with Outlyr and everything went very smoothly. Even though Shirley and I did not have experience, we knew in our heart that principally which is the right thing to do. Especially I heard from many women players, Mr. Wang, thank you so much. We know you understand that we need to put food on the table, too. We need to take care of our house, too. We need to take care of our family, too.
One thing comes to another, and like you said, now there's 10 tournaments whose purse is $3 million or more. So the average purse on the LPGA last year went up by 70 percent. By 70 percent.
It's coming closer and closer to men, where before it was women's purse was one fifth, now it's coming closer and closer to men.
It's great. It's great that this is going the right direction, and I think there's ample, ample opportunities on the horizon, and the LPGA will grow leaps and bounds, and we very much look forward to it.
SHIRLEY WANG: Well, he said I allowed him. He made me do it.
But seriously, I'm so happy that he made me do it because when he told me about it, it was something I was so happy that he made me do it because he's such a great man. He wanted to help the women. He wanted to help women have a better living, and he wanted to elevate the sport for women. He wanted the tournament to be just as good and just as prominent and just as beautiful.
I'm so glad that he wanted to double the purse and made everybody else double the purse.
Of course when I say he made me do it, because I am not a sports person. I don't know how to play golf. I don't know how to play any sport. I joke I only look professional, I don't know how to do any -- like all skill. When we started to do this tournament, it was really, like, oh, my gosh. We didn't know what the hospitality suite was going to be like, what it entailed and how we had to do it, and it was great that Outlyr helped us through it, and slowly by slowly, step by step, we've tried to make it better every single time.
So we started to beautify the grounds and put our pipes in and put our doors in. It was a great journey. I'm so glad that it's gotten to where it is.
JEREMY FRIEDMAN: Talking about trying to improve kind of year after year and every single time, like you just said, give us a little sense of just a few of the things that have elevated the championship. We talked about doubling the purse. The pro-am party, junior golf day, and also for the players, the accommodations for the players. Share a little bit about that with the audience.
WALTER WANG: Well, the LPGA event, the tournament should be fun. It's fiercely competitive, but why couldn't we have some fun beforehand, before the ladies go in and compete. So that's why we did the Tuesday night dinner, and we have a bunch of raffle prizes. This is what I was told, that usually when other tournaments put up this kind of dinner, maybe 10 or 20 players may show up, but the first year, we had over 100 players that showed up.
Again, at the end of the night, I see people smiling, laughing. That makes me feel gratified because I see a lot of smiling faces. And so that's why we continue to have these dinners, and I love the kids day. We bus 300 or 400 kids in and there was three or four pro golfers who are their mentors. I was standing there just listening to the kids' questions and the pros' answers, how they mentor the kids. I was just flabbergasted. I was amazed the kids were asking how many hours do you practice, what's the regimen, how do you keep yourself healthy and what do you eat. It was great, that interaction and the mentorship.
As we know, at the end of the day, I think all children should have good mentors besides their parents. Parents are great, but these ladies have gone through thick and thin. They went through harshness. They sweat. They continue to persist. So these are great mentors for the kids. When I see that, I'm just so gratified.
SHIRLEY WANG: Yeah, so when Walter heard about the golfers, they have to make at least $150,000 to break even with all the travel and all the things that they have to do. And some of them don't make it. It's hard for them to come out and compete.
Walter said, hey, let's help out with the accommodations for them to come to the LA Championship. Again, I give credit to him. He's a generous man wanting to do that. As we all know, the golfers work hard, but we also have to play hard. So I think that's the reason why we said, let's give a good party, and I like to party.
WALTER WANG: She is very good at it.
JEREMY FRIEDMAN: And this year, I know Hannah and Mo can attest that playing week in and week out is hard and the expenses are hard on the LPGA Tour. Walter and Shirley, this year, the entire field of 144 players are going to be given complimentary hotel accommodations paid for by Walter and Shirley Wang to help out with their expenses.
Speaking of giving chances to LPGA players, we have another sponsor exemption, that we are announcing today. So we've announced our first sponsor exemption. Rianne Malixi, who was the 2024 U.S. Girls' champion right here at El Cab. Phil told me she is now an honorary member of El Cab, so she's going to be practicing and tuning up her game to go up against Hannah and company when the tournament comes around.
We have our second sponsor exemption. As mentioned about junior golf day, you two are very passionate about kind of not only growing the game of golf, but giving opportunities to the next generation. We have our next sponsor exemption. Her name is Caroline Canales. Several of you, especially in the media, may be familiar with her. She is all-American at UCLA, all Pac-12 team member. She also lives right here in Calabasas. She earned her Epson status the end of last year, Q series.
I see Walter and Shirley are giving her a sponsor exemption for this event. She is currently competing in Augusta at the Augusta Women's Amateur this week. This event is going to be her first LPGA tour event. So she's going to be making her LPGA tour debut at this championship.
Walter and Shirley, in selecting sponsor exemptions, when you saw Caroline and her resume and bio, what struck you to offer her a sponsor exemption for this championship?
WALTER WANG: I mean, most golfers know that she's, of course, obviously, a very young talent and hard worker, but to be very direct, she wrote me a really nice letter I can't refuse. (Laughter.)
No, she was so kind, and she's just a humble girl, very humble, and it was a full page. It took a lot of time to write that letter. She really put in the effort.
I got quite a few letters, and I went through them. I read through them many, many times. I had a really hard time choosing to give an exemption to whom, but I don't know, she just stands out with me. I don't know how else to say. She stands out.
I spoke to friends, and I said, should we pick her or should we pick this girl? She just stood out, really, with me.
JEREMY FRIEDMAN: Caroline is our sponsor exemption, our second sponsor exemption. She is at Augusta National Women's amateur, but she wanted to say thank you, and she wanted to give a thank you.
(Video shown.)
JEREMY FRIEDMAN: That is Caroline. She is practicing at Augusta this week. For the members of the media, we'll be able to set up some phone interviews with her today and leading up into the championship. As Caroline mentioned, and we're going to transition into our next session here in a minute.
2025 has taken on kind of a new life for this championship. What I mean by that is, it's providing a respite -- we talked about this earlier this year. It's almost like a beacon of hope for a lot of folks here.
Before we bring up Chris Stine with the LA Firemen's Relief, can you and Shirley talk about the donations that you have done so far as Angelenos and giving back to the community and what you are continuing to do for the community?
WALTER WANG: Shirley and I moved from New Jersey to LA back in 2007. So we are really Angelenos. We're very much a part of the community. I deeply believe that when you're part of a community, if the time is right, if you can lend a helping hand, you must. Actions speaks much louder than words, and we've tried to be very active in all the communities where we are involved.
Shirley and I, we have 17 manufacturing plants throughout 15 states, from east to west, north to south, and I always encourage my people at the plants, my employees, to be really part of the community that you have to step in and help.
This fire is just horrific. I see pictures, I see videos and all the homes burned down. Some of the things can be replaced. Some of the things cannot be replaced. It's not as simple as saying, it's just material things. No, some of the things just cannot be replaced.
I was telling Hannah earlier that we have a friend whose father is a World War II vet, and he single-handedly captured 19 Nazis in France. He got an accomodation letter from the president of France at that time. That was burned down, and that cannot be replaced.
I talked to my wife, I said, we have to do something about this. So what is the immediate need? And with Sean's help, the fire department needed a new bulldozer, so did that. The fire department needs a machine to make sandbags. So we did that, too. Then we want to help the firemen and women who lost their homes to rebuild. So we did that. I think it was 20, Sean?
But the relief effort continues. It doesn't just stop the first phase. There's two phases, three phases. The residents, they must have a lot of patience, right? It will take years to rebuild.
I think the rebuilding effort, what we can do to help, must continue.
SHIRLEY WANG: Yeah, it's absolutely devastating what happened to LA, and just being in LA, everyone has to chip in. We said, we have to chip in. So that's why we started off with the fire department, the police department and the Fire Relief Fund.
We have another schedule, $5 million to see what else is needed because, of course, there's the first phase, but then we really have to dig deeper. What is it that the people really need and what is it that we can really help with? Because this is just the first phase.
WALTER WANG: I'd like to add, I'm a board member for the LAPF, Los Angeles Police Foundation, so we also help many policemen and women whose houses were burned down, as well, and we continue to do so. I mean, we need more of you guys, not less. We need more of you guys, to keep us safe, to keep the community safe.
We're doing more than just that, but for example, recruiting candidates for the police department. The rent is very expensive, so we help to subsidize that. There's so many things that Angelenos can do for the community. Just be willing to go out there and just do it.
SHIRLEY WANG: I think this is also a great opportunity to build the infrastructure of LA because now is an opportunity that we can rebuild. And since we're in the infrastructure business of pipes and doors, we want to bring the latest technologies to Los Angeles in the most efficient way possible.
WALTER WANG: May I take two minutes? I hope I'm not wasting people's time.
I don't know if you guys know that in our country, the United States of America, we lose 2.7 trillion gallons of water leaked out through corrosive pipelines. I don't know if you know that. In California alone, we lose 350 billion gallons of water in California alone, leak out through corrosive, corroded pipelines. If we save those water, not waste them, our firemen and women out there, when they stick the hose into the hydrant and open it, it's not going to run out of water. A lot of houses were burned down because of lack of water, embers on the roof, fire started. Wind blew, fire started.
First thing we need to do, we need to rethink really hard about what do we put in the infrastructure, what do we put into the ground. So that's very important. Don't waste the water. Our poor farmers in California, every year, they get water rationing. The last two years the farmers, they couldn't make enough money because there's not enough water to grow more high-profit, high-revenue crops.
So water is the essence of life. Other than the air we breathe, there is water. So I just want to bring that fact to all of you. Make sure you tell your community leaders, don't put in the supply line. That also causes water secondary pollution. You want the plastic pipe underneath the ground -- you want some plastic pipe in the ground to be non-biodegradable. Above ground, plastic is biodegradable. It's our misunderstanding.
So anyway, let's save the water. Let's not waste it.
JEREMY FRIEDMAN: You can tell by the passion, not only with this tournament, but what you two are doing for this great community. For this tournament itself, Shirley hinted at it. So Walter and Shirley, they've donated $1.5 million so far to three organizations. They have pledged another $5 million, so that's $6.5 million that they're donating to LA Fire Relief and Recovery. Here for this tournament, anybody that's been affected by the fires, by the Eaton or Palisades fire, their families will be given complimentary, all first responders, members of the military, current and veterans, also will receive complimentary admission, including their families.
We will have a special hospitality venue for you guys. It's called the Servpro Hero Outpost, thanks to our friends at Servpro, for you guys for the tournament week.
From the LPGA players itself, we will be leading up to the tournament and during tournament week we will be visiting firehouses. We've got members from fire station 93 here. You saw the two trucks that were out front. So we'll be visiting their firehouse. I know Hannah and Mo will mention this, but the LPGA coming here, it's not only important for all of us, it's important to them, and I know they're looking forward to kind of using their platform to help raise awareness and to help continue the city to recover and grow.
Next on this LA fire relief, I'd like to bring up Chris Stine, the president of the LA Firemen's Relief Association. Come on up. While you're coming up -- while we're taking a seat, Lilia Vu, who came so close to winning last night, she is super excited to be here. She also wanted to send a video. Thank you.
(Video shown.)
JEREMY FRIEDMAN: Chris Stine next to me, president of the LA Firemen's Relief Association, you have been working with Walter and Shirley on a lot of relief efforts. Give the audience a little bit of what the LA Firemen's Relief Association is and some of the initiatives you are working with Walter and Shirley for this championship.
CHRIS STINE: Thank you, Jeremy. I represent an organization that's been around for 118 years and what we do is, we take care of our active firefighters, our retired firefighters and their families, and some of these folks have gone through the most challenging time of their lives. So we take the string out a little bit financially, mentally, physically. And with these wildfires, along with the rest of the community that lost their homes, our firefighters who are with me today, their families total loss or displaced, have to do remediation work. One of the firefighters here, his kid's school burned down. So they had to relocate the children to a different school. So you can imagine all of that.
And what makes a big difference is, Walter and Shirley, as generous as they are, their donation has a direct effect firefighters, making things a little bit easier for them to navigate, and you really -- most of us in the room, both fire and our partners with LAPD, LA County Sheriffs, who also had significant loss, as well, we signed up to do this.
We show up to work every day and this is what we love, but it's so much easier when you have partners in the community like Walter and Shirley to connect that circle, and make things a little better for us.
Like you were talking about earlier, you motivate other people to raise the purse for all the tournaments, and by doing this, you motivate other people to get involved in the community and do this work, and it makes our job a lot easier when we have people behind us that are helping us like that.
JEREMY FRIEDMAN: Walter and Shirley, talk about how this connection started as you were looking to give back to the community. How did this relationship with the LA Firemen's Relief Association begin?
WALTER WANG: Well, we did some research on where the money can go and have an impact quickly because that's the first phase. So we found with Sean and calling around, we just found Chris's team and what he does. This is a passionate guy here. He really has a big heart. He does what he does so well.
Again, it was the quickest, most efficient, effective way to do it, through his foundation, so that's why we did it, because people need immediate relief right away.
SHIRLEY WANG: What was sad about it was at this time you saw the best of humanity, which is like what you guys all did, but there was also the worst in humanity. There was some people who were trying to prey on people giving donations, there were people trying to loot the places, and you didn't know which organization was real and not real. I'm so glad that Sean found Chris and this foundation that we could find real organizations that were doing real work. So we're happy that we could partner with them.
JEREMY FRIEDMAN: Chris, you touched on it a little bit at the top, but how important is it to have organizations like JM Eagle and Plastpro supporting you guys on all the efforts that are taking place here in the community?
CHRIS STINE: Yeah, it's important. We pride ourselves in taking care of our own. I think sometimes we're not truly truthful with that and we do need help. So because of their work, and they did do a lot of research on us for sure before they helped us, which is awesome, and Sean was a big part in helping make that happen. He did a lot of work to help this relationship be built the way it is now.
But we do need help, and we won't admit that ever. We don't ever tell anybody that we need help, but we do, and because of your efforts, you've really helped change the lives of our firefighters and their family.
JEREMY FRIEDMAN: And come tournament week, there will be more opportunities like this to help contribute to the communities.
Chris, you mentioned there's a few families here who have been direct recipients of Walter and Shirley's donations. So if you could go through that a little bit, that would be great.
CHRIS STINE: Yeah, total is about 25 families, all different levels of devastation, but I brought a few with me today and some of them have lost their homes and had to relocate. And I believe we have LAPD in the room, too, officers who have lost their homes, as well, and we do work with our partners well with these efforts and other associations.
Yeah, so just different levels of loss. I think several of these families will not be re-housed for three, four, five months because they're going through remediation work. They're going through re-roofs. Like all these things we don't think about. So yeah, we have a whole row here sitting in front of me of our firefighters that are here today to, one, acknowledge, and they're very grateful for all the work that you've done for them, and that money is being deployed as we speak, actually.
So you want it to be done speedy, we got it done speedy for you. We got the money out the door as fast as possible. So thank you for that.
JEREMY FRIEDMAN: Chris, how did you -- with this LPGA Tour event, we're going to have 144 of the greatest female professional golfers in the world that are going to be at this championship. How -- as an Angeleno, how do you see this championship helping to kind of elevate the community and helping to continue the community to recover?
CHRIS STINE: I think you talked about it before. You have all of your people that are wanting to help in the community, other businesses that you have relationships with, and I think you mentioned with the LPGA Tour, you have the ability to also have a huge effect in that area. I was born and raised in this city. I'm an Angeleno, as well, and I think it's awesome to utilize all these platforms with business folks, with professional golf, and I think we can make a huge difference here in the city. People can get behind that and partner with us for sure.
JEREMY FRIEDMAN: I think we can all agree to that. Chris, thank you.
Walter and Shirley, thank you for everything that you guys are doing in the community, everything that you guys are doing for the -- to support the LPGA Tour and this great championship.
We have a lot more news that's going to be coming. I think the most important -- like I said earlier, you guys out here, thank you. Thank you for what you're doing. Thank you for what you're continuing to do.
We will now transition to our next panel. Jill painter Lopez with CBS LA and Golf Digest, Mo Martin, Hannah Green, Casey Ceman, the vice president of LPGA business affairs, they will all come up, and while they're coming up, let's take a look at the TV screens. Because this tournament was LPGA Tournament of the year in 2024, let's take a look back and see if we can run it back in 2025.
(Video shown.)
JILL PAINTER LOPEZ: Hannah, you've been such a gracious winner of this tournament back-to-back years. I love that the LA community has fallen in love with you. Four top-3 finishes in the last four years and going for a three-peat. The fans were chanting your name last year as you're walking down the 18th fairway. I know it's kind of a home away from home for you.
Your thoughts on why this place, this tournament has been so special for you?
HANNAH GREEN: Yeah, the first time I played the tournament was back in 2018, which was my first year on Tour, and I actually missed the cut at Wilshire the first year, and I was like, I don't know about this golf course. Then I made the cut the next year, and obviously, I've played very well since.
I don't know what it is about California. We used to even play up in San Francisco and I've had some good results up there. I think it's maybe the poa annua greens that are actually really generous and kind to me. I've had so much support when I'm here in California. People are so lovely to me, and I really do enjoy being here. I love the food. I love the weather, like I'm sure everyone -- that's why people live here, right? It's been an honor to be a champion of this tournament, and Walter and Shirley do so many things for us and probably a lot of things that we don't even realize as players. We just see the purses and the hotels, but all the things behind closed doors, I can't imagine what it's like. I think we're grateful for their partnership, and they certainly have paved a way for the rest of the tournaments, and obviously even in the community with their donations.
JILL PAINTER LOPEZ: I know you have a favorite family that you've stayed with here in Los Angeles, which LPGA golfers do sometimes because hotels are very responsive, but Walter and Shirley are footing the bill for you to be in a hotel. What is it like to see what they're doing for the Tour and trying to elevate things?
HANNAH GREEN: Yeah, makes a huge impact. I think a lot of people just look at how much we make a year and just assume that's exactly what's in our bank account. Sometimes it's kind of annoying having it so public. But we do have a lot of expenses. The better that you (inaudible) usually have. Things like having a hotel or a really nice dinner on a Tuesday, things like that make a big difference to the tournament week. Whether you're No. 1 in the world or 100 thing in the world, it's still such an amazing thing to have. We've been very fortunate in having those opportunities more and more on the LPGA.
JILL PAINTER LOPEZ: Hannah and I joked last year that nobody consulted her about the Wilshire renovation, and that it's moved since she's won there the last two times and played so well there. But she'll get a chance to play today, as well.
Thank you, Hannah.
Moving along to Mo Martin. Mo, of course, such a big fixture in golf here in Los Angeles, grew up in Altadena, a junior golfer, played at UCLA on the LPGA Tour and, of course, we're sitting here with two major winners as well, with you winning the Women's British Open.
I wanted to say how sorry we all are. There's so many people in this room, including you, your mom, and brother, your childhood home was lost where you lived since you were three years old. What has it been like for you to see the golf community surround you and support you?
MO MARTIN: I'm so lucky to be in the golfing community. It's just been a reminder that the golfing community is the best thing I could have dedicated my life to. The support that I've gotten from strangers, from friends, from people I've known my whole life, it's been incredible.
LA is in my blood, in my bones. I grew up in Altadena. I was here -- my mom and my brother lost their home, came straight to me with their animals, and they got out just in the nick of time. You all are such heroes. I saw exactly what was going on.
Walter and Shirley, you saw how dark those days were, how much smoke there was, how much damage. Very, very scary times. So thank you from the bottom of my heart that I still have my family with me and for all you've done to protect us, to serve us, and to run directly into harm's way for us. So thank you so much for doing that.
Also Walter and Shirley, your foresight, thinking of us, thinking of the community, thinking of ways to go forward and build smarter. So to make this of use and benefit and to somehow go forward, I appreciate that so much and your principles. We're honored to have you as partners and looking out for us. So thank you very kindly.
JILL PAINTER LOPEZ: Mo's big heart, she opened up her two-bedroom townhouse in the South Bay to her mom, brother, four dogs, as well. And one of the first things that she told me was that one of her former UCLA golf teammates was there within 24 hours with clothes and dog food, and just a real testament to the people in the golf community, as well.
One thing you said to me that struck me is we need to keep this -- we can't stop covering these stories. We need to keep this out there. How do you use your platform to keep letting people know that there's still help needed?
MO MARTIN: I mean, I'm personally checking in with every one of my neighbors that I have. I'm getting phone numbers and I'm making sure that, especially the elder residents, my mom's neighbor to the north, he's 90 now, and so just the idea of living in a hotel right now, in an AirBNB that's very uncomfortable. And the rebuild is going to take cares, so we're not there yet, understandably so.
National news moved on, but the rebuild has not. We still have so much ahead of us, and a lot of the fire victims, and also the families of the people who lost their lives, there's a lot of emotions still left to process, so that's still happening.
Again, just very fortunate that this tournament is happening, the donations are still here, and that's it coming to mind again because there's still so much work to be done.
When my mom -- I was helping her unpack because a big part of this is finding safety and routine again, and that's lost when you lose a home, and there are some replaceable things, and then those irreplaceables are the safety. I was helping my mom unpack the day after. She just took a bag because, like many people, you thought you were going to come home in a couple days, and I was unpacking salami and cheese, and I looked at her and said, you brought salami and cheese, but you didn't get my trophy? So we've had a laugh about that. Thankfully, they still have their sense of humor. But that is being replaced. The trophy is on its way.
The golfing community is the best in the world, in my opinion.
JILL PAINTER LOPEZ: The Women's British Open that she won in 2014, that championship meant so much to her and her family, and that's getting replaced. The R&A has reached out to her. That's pretty awesome. What makes golf special is the people in it. Thank you, Mo, for sharing your story.
Casey, I know with the LPGA, you guys have been instrumental especially with this teammate in trying to sort of bridge golf and this LA community. In what ways have you guys seen those spots where you can do that?
CASEY CEMAN: Yeah, I think Los Angeles has been a cornerstone of the LPGA Tour for a long time, and I'm just hearing some of the stories from Walter and Shirley about how intentional they've been about trying to do this the right way and help this city not only recover but kind of take those next steps in what needs to be done. There's so much work still to be done, and Chris, it's cool to hear what you and your foundation are doing. It's hard to talk about golf when you're hearing some of these stories. But we're just really proud to be partners with Walter and Shirley.
We talked about it a little bit earlier today, how you been really been trailblazers for other title partners on our tour. And it really mirrors what you're doing in the community with the fire efforts. So we're just proud to be a part of this, and we really hope that the event in a few weeks can be a platform to kind of further that and reenergize some of these efforts that are going on.
JILL PAINTER LOPEZ: For the Tour to be back here, we just saw Annika Sorenstam talking about her 50th win here 21 years ago, for you guys to be back here, how special is it for you guys?
CASEY CEMAN: It's really cool, and thanks to Phil and the board and the team here at El Cab, this is a beautiful facility and we can't wait to have it on the global stage here.
But as a Tour, we are actually celebrating our 75 anniversary this year, so it's a really big milestone for the Tour, the longest running women's sports organization in the world.
We often talk about kind of taking the LPGA Tour from this kind of legacy sports league to really a global sports and entertainment brand, and having partners like JM Eagle and Plastpro and Walter and Shirley. I think one of you kind of hit on it earlier, but from 2021 to today, our purses have grown over 90 percent, and we're going to be playing for over $130 million this year, a new record for the LPGA Tour.
So it's such an exciting time to be a part of LPGA, and we're excited to be back here.
Q. The purse is from 1975. I showed it to Hannah before. This is my 50th year of covering the LPGA, so I've got 50 of the 75 in. The purses are ridiculous. Last place, $500. I don't know if that would cover your gas to get here. I just want to know from Mo's standpoint, you probably are thinking, wow, I wish I was born, like, maybe a few years later to cash in on some of this wonderful money here that it should be, but at the same time, both of you, talk about the growth in the last decade and what this means to the Tour and every single player.
MO MARTIN: It is huge. Hannah talked about it, Walter talked about it. As females and as athletes, we have a lot of expectations on us. But we also are bread winners, and also the expectation to get married and the childbearing, and I've always been in such awe of players like Juli Inkster who have been able to have children and still come back and win tournaments.
It's a Herculean feat, and it's not talked about as much as it should be, and it's not celebrated like it should be.
Again, when people come in and have that foresight and realize what we are sacrificing, what we're contributing and celebrate it, it means so much to us. Yeah, just that thought is wonderful.
When I came on Tour and I played in my heyday, that was the highest the rung was, and now I love seeing it get higher and higher and higher. I just celebrate that because I know what it's like, and that's also what I hoped my contribution was, was to help it get to that point.
CME was a big sponsor for me, and when they put on the Tour Championship, they thought about the same thing. They thought, we want to raise the bar, and they did raise the bar. So to see very generous sponsors come and keep raising the bar means everything to all of us and to all the little girls and boys watching.
HANNAH GREEN: Yeah, definitely. When I came on Tour, I think it's nearly been over 100 percent growth, so it's crazy to think how much we did play for back then and how rapid it is growing. I think it just -- you'll see so many kids at tournaments, and you feel fulfilled by seeing them smile, just like what Walter said.
It's definitely come a long way, and I'm sure it's going to go even further. Every player on Tour just wants to leave the Tour in a better place than when we actually first arrived, and that's certainly happened.
Q. Hannah and Mo, regarding the growth of the LPGA Tour, from y'all's lens with this week, just kind of everything that you guys -- everything that we've talked about in this press conference, how does this week, from a player standpoint, how is this going to be a different week for you on the LPGA Tour when we play here in a couple of weeks?
HANNAH GREEN: I don't know if Mo is playing. We're really excited to play here. I personally have never been up to this area. Being from Australia, we're very familiar what it's like with fires, so seeing the footage and seeing what the recovery will be like. But I'm hoping that we do get a turnout, and we can actually make a big difference during the tournament week.
I didn't really think about it until -- actually when I arrived last night into LA, but I would like to pledge for every birdie that I make that I'm going to donate $500 to a relief. I hope that I can make as many birdies as possible. I haven't seen the golf course yet, so I hope there's lots of birdies to be made. But yeah, California has been such a special place to my heart, so yeah, I just want to give back in any way possible.
Q. Mo, as an LPGA player and a major champion, how do you see -- when you have all of your contemporaries that are coming to your town, how is that going to be for you, that week, knowing that the world is going to be watching this championship and that it's also going to be for a bigger cause?
MO MARTIN: Well, I want to start off by thanking you for that pledge, and I have played with you and I know your skill, so it doesn't matter what golf course we're playing. I can already see your name etched on that, so thank you very much for that pledge and I have all the faith in you because I've seen it firsthand.
It's so significant. It's so timely. It's always really fun when the LPGA comes. I played when it was at Wilshire and it was so much fun to play in my hometown, and before that it was the Kia Classic, and that felt like a home game. So then when it came and it was really in LA-LA, that was significant for me.
Just to bring light to the smoke remediation, it's a bear. You don't lose your whole home, but my sister also lives in Altadena, and she's a single mom, and she's still in a tent in her backyard because she hasn't gotten back into her house. So there is so much to do, and she's doing everything -- we're all doing everything we can but it's a slow process and because so many people are going through this. It's just really backed up down the pipeline.
So again, thank you so much for your continued attention to the fire relief and to all the victims. Just this continued support and spotlight means a lot in my heart and in what I know everybody is going through here.
JEREMY FRIEDMAN: Everybody here, thank you very much.
Next part of the press conference, we will be -- that wraps up our preference conference for today. We will be doing photo opportunities here.
FastScripts Transcript by ASAP Sports