May 23, 2024; Fort Worth, Texas, USA; Luke List plays his shot from the 12th tee during the first round of the Charles Schwab Challenge golf tournament. Mandatory Credit: Raymond Carlin III-Imagn Images
Luke List is in Jackson, Mississippi, this week to defend his title at the Sanderson Farms Championship, but his mind is on his adopted hometown of Augusta, Georgia, and the other parts of the Southeast affected by Hurricane Helene.
List planned to fly from Augusta to Jackson on Monday, but with the storm approaching late last week, he opted to head to Mississippi earlier.
“In my opinion, I feel for all the people in Florida, South Carolina and North Carolina, but also the people in the CSRA (Central Savannah River Area) in Augusta, where I live,” List said. “It’s pretty devastating, not just to see it, but to experience it, a place you call home. It’s really sad.”
“My thoughts are directly with everyone I call friends and family back home and I hope everyone is staying safe.”
List said he and Swede Henrik Norlander, also an Augusta resident, are going to donate $500 for every birdie they make this week to the Red Cross there.
“Henrik came early too,” List said. “He drove from Augusta to Jackson with his family. Obviously, when you have young children, keeping them safe and out of harm’s way is the biggest priority, so we were in agreement about the need to contribute in any way we can. Obviously, there are a lot of people who are in privileged positions to contribute, and I feel like that’s always necessary, especially in difficult times like this.”
Before leaving town, List joined his neighbors in cutting down five downed trees and clearing a street in his neighborhood. “He came to the clear conclusion” that his area will not have electricity or water for some time.
“It’s humbling, just ripping out trees,” List said. “My neighbor had a Jeep and we were pulling big logs off the roadside trees and doing our best to band together and get a tree out of a neighbor’s yard, and that’s everyone. Everyone’s dealing with it in their own way.” way. In some ways, it was great to see everyone come together, but in some ways it almost seemed like that was the thing to do at the time.”
Last October, List birdied the first extra hole to win a five-man sudden-death playoff against Ben Griffin, Scott Stallings, Norlander and another Swede, Ludvig Aberg, now one of the top-ranked golfers in the world.
Winning that tournament, the second of his PGA Tour career, guaranteed List a two-year tour exemption. That means he’s not going into the FedEx Cup Fall worried about keeping his card, but at 78th, he has something to play for. Players who finish the fall in 51st-60th place qualify for the first two flagship events of 2025, the AT&T Pebble Beach Pro-Am and the Genesis Invitational.
“I’ve talked about this, how important fall is,” List said. “Obviously, everyone watches the FedEx Cup playoffs, and that’s amazing for all the top players, but for most of us that are on the circuit, to have this opportunity to not only keep our card or compete for a victory to get into the big tournaments or try to get into those big events, it’s just an opportunity to gain some confidence and move forward with our career. I think some of the best stories came out in the fall, and I still think that’s really important. for the circuit to have these events.
–Field level media
