PALOS VERDES ESTATES, Calif. — After shooting a 5-over 76 Thursday at Palos Verdes Golf Club, Maria Fassi found herself on the outside looking in at the FIR HILLS SERI PAK Championship, needing something incredibly special Friday in Southern California if she wanted to take first part of the 2024 LPGA Tour season.
With her back against the wall, the Mexico native dug deep and came out swinging, eventually firing a 6-under 65 in the second round to climb the leaderboard and play the weekend on the LPGA Tour for the first time this year.
Starting the day on No. 10, Fassi found an early birdie on the par-3 11th hole, but erased her early effort with a bogey on the par-3 13th hole. He quickly recovered from that mistake, hitting three straight birdies on holes 14, 15 and 16 to get back to 2-over for the tournament and turn in 32.
The 25-year-old dropped another shot on the par-4 1st hole, but once again bounced back with a pair of back-to-back birdies on the par-4 and par-4 2nd holes, now at 1-over overall. She bogeyed the fourth hole before making another birdie on No. 5 to get back to even par and sit at 5-under on the day, burying a mid-range birdie on the par-4 9th hole to post a 65, her lowest round of LPGA Tour from round 62 on first day of 2022 ANNIKA driven by Gainbridge at Pelican.
After a surprisingly sluggish start, considering how well she played on the Ladies European Tour at the Lalla Meryem Cup a few weeks ago, Fassi was extremely proud of her second-day match at Palos Verdes Estates, California, and is looking forward to it. to take advantage of her first weekend of LPGA Tour golf since The ANNIKA driven by Gainbridge at Pelican last November.
“I think I have to get the most improved gold star,” said Fassi, whose 65 is the third-lowest career round on the LPGA Tour. “I think yesterday came out of nowhere in a way. I finished the 5-over, and I was talking to my best man and trying to figure out how this happened. I wasn’t necessarily too concerned about the score because I knew I was hitting good shots.
“I think today we stayed patient, we stayed true to our game plan that we put in place after Wednesday, and I’m happy to see that it paid off and excited to have two more players. Hopefully we’ll continue to climb the rankings.”
This is Fassi’s third start of the 2024 LPGA Tour season, and this week’s cut is a vast improvement from the two missed cuts she had at the LPGA Drive On Championship and Blue Bay LPGA in the first two events of the year. This is her third time doing so at Palos Verdes Golf Club and in her previous two appearances on the course, Fassi missed a cut and earned the best finish of T49 that came in the inaugural edition of this tournament.
Fassi joined the LPGA Tour in 2019 after a standout college career at the University of Arkansas and has struggled at times to find success in the professional ranks, earning just eight top-10 finishes in her six seasons on Tour. But the incredible Latina never gives up and has fought her way back from the brink many times over the years, always managing to maintain her LPGA Tour status despite facing the toughest challenges on the golf course.
Her performance on Friday at Palos Verdes Golf Club is just the latest example of Fassi’s dogged persistence, a quality that should serve her well this weekend at the FIR HILLS SERI PAK Championship as inclement weather threatens to plague the course on tee day and as she works to create some positive momentum just outside the City of Angels as the 2024 LPGA Tour season ramps up.
“I think today we played very, very smart,” Fassi said. “When we were in an unfortunate position, we were just trying to find a way to get to the best place to bring it up and down. We weren’t trying to be superheroes out here. I think for me it was hard at times because I can make some of those shots quite often and it’s hard for me to be smart.
“I think a round like today, it’s also a lesson for me to know that if you stay smart, you can go out and make eight birdies like it’s nothing. I’m excited for the next couple of days and the next couple of weeks as well. We have two good golf courses and we have some momentum for the rest of the year.”