Gaby Lopez is taking after fellow LPGA player Stacy Lewis and playing for her home this week while she's thousands of miles away in New Zealand.
Lopez, a native of Mexico, has said she will donate her entire paycheck from the McKayson New Zealand Women's Open to support recovery efforts from the recent earthquake in central Mexico whose aftershocks and reverberations affected Mexico City. She is also donating $25 per birdie.
Lopez was in the capital when the earthquake happened.
“I was at my house,” Lopez said. “At the beginning, we thought it was going to be a small earthquake, not very serious. Then everything kind of started falling off the walls, the paintings and some lamps. My mom and I started screaming around my house. We got out of the house and we could still see how the cars were going back and forth. I thought my house was going to fall apart.”
Specifically, Lopez's donation to the Love Army Mexico effort will help families rebuild homes.
“The fund is aiming towards rebuilding houses,” Lopez said. “We’re going to rebuild 100 houses, each costing about $10,000. I think that’s a low cost, and it’s very accessible. We’re aiming to raise about $1 million so we can do as much as we can. People have lost their homes and part of their families, and I think it’s really cool that we got together to raise up Mexico again.”
Lopez begins the final round T-14 and eight back of leader Belen Mozo of Spain.
