LPGA tournament in Naples helps sense of normalcy after Hurricane Ian

NAPLES, Fla. —  Perhaps it was the piles of concrete washed away by the powerful storm surge that now sit on the side of the road.

Or the massive mounds of debris, mostly downed trees and limbs, some so tall they block the view of the beachfront condos from the street.

Or those towering condos sitting directly on the Gulf of Mexico, still abandoned, residents replaced by construction crews and heavy equipment working to make their homes relivable once again.

Madelene Sagstrom, who owns a home in Orlando and has lived through her share of storms, was overwhelmed when she drove along the beach Tuesday and saw the destruction from Hurricane Ian.

“All the destruction,” she said. “It’s just mind-blowing how local it can be. You’re out here and you don’t realize anything.”

Sagstrom is part of the 60-woman field for the CME Group Tour Championship at Tiburon Golf Club, the final event of the LPGA tour season that starts Thursday. Tiburon sits about four miles from the Gulf of Mexico and 42 miles south of where Hurricane Ian came ashore with 150 mph winds seven weeks ago.

Tiburon, which has 36 holes, including the Gold Course where this week’s event is being held, received little damage outside of 350-400 trees being uprooted, and some flooding.

After crews worked tirelessly to remove and replant trees and repair the turf, the Gold Course reopened four days after Ian made landfall. Work then started on cleaning up the areas outside of play.

That work assured the LPGA this event would go on as scheduled.

“It was very devastating what happened here and it’s nice to see everything rebuilding and everything getting more back to normal,” said Brooke Henderson, No. 6 in the women’s world golf rankings. “Hopefully we can continue to recover and just grow stronger from all of this.”

Brooke Henderson hits off the 13th tee during the final round of the 2022 ShopRite LPGA Classic in Galloway, New Jersey. (Photo: Matt Rourke/Associated Press)

Henderson was born and raised in Canada but also lives in Naples. Her home survived the storm.

Tiburon general manager Kevin DeDonato was relieved when he saw the impact the storm had on the property. Irma, which hit in September 2017, toppled about 1,000 trees.

“I kind of knew what to expect,” DeDonato said. “The damage we…