“There are tears every day and grief is not linear; it’s going to hit us, it’s going to continue to hit us,” Mo Martin, almost choking up on tears, spoke to the camera. That was January 2025, barely days after the LA Wildfire wreaked havoc like a demon from the underground. 

It’s been four months since then. Data shows that the Los Angeles wildfire destroyed 16,251 homes, commercial buildings, and other structures. It also puts the economic impact at somewhere between $76B and $131B. All these are tangible losses. But the loss that’s intangible and most likely irreversible is the one that hurts the most. Ask 2014 British Women’s Open champion Mo Martin. 

A total of 9,414 properties were destroyed in Altadena by the Eaton Fire. Among those was the MO Martin’s home. And a local golf club where she learnt to play the game. Now that the LPGA Tour has returned to Los Angeles for the JM Eagle Championship, Martin sat in the broadcast booth to reveal the harrowing loss. 

“Nothing will prepare you for that… [Everything] was burned to the Ground in a nanosecond,” said Martin when asked to share her first reaction after the devastation. As the fire raged through the city, one by one, everything around Martin’s neighborhood succumbed to the raging inferno. The post-apocalyptic visuals shook the internet. 

While the fire spared Riviera, the venue where Tiger Woods hosted the Genesis Invitational, all the golf clubs around the area weren’t so lucky. Martin’s home club was wrecked. The turf was lost, along with the memories from her childhood, just like the British Open trophy she won in 2014.

How Mo Martin lost the British Open trophy?

Martin’s mother, Linda, was a stained-glass artist. She wanted to make a collage with her daughter’s major trophy, Ping putter, and the badges her daughter earned. It wasn’t finished when the fire hit, and they had to scamper. And in a hurry, they left the British Open trophy at home. 

A few days later, when they came back, only rubble was left. The only discernible object was the chimney. “My British Open trophy was there. It was there as an ode to my mom and to the community that supported me and helped make my dreams come true,” Mo Martin said on the Golf Channel show. Which is why Martin is also glad that golf tournament sponsors have come together to rebuild the community. 

The JM Eagle Championship is the only professional golf tournament in the area this year. Philanthropists Walter and Shirley Wang, JM Eagle and Plastpro founders, donated $6.5M in rebuilding efforts. Both of them were born in California. Mo Martin thanked the sponsors for helping in the community-building effort. While that will perhaps bring back some of the places she lost, some memories are irretrievably lost.