Maria Fassi is off to a strong start at the Final Qualifying portion of 2024 LPGA Q-Series in Mobile, Ala. After posting a 1-under 71 on the Crossings Course at Robert Trent Jones Golf Trail – Magnolia Grove on Thursday, a round in which Fassi joked she was bogey-free considering she made four birdies and a triple-bogey, the Mexico native blitzed the Falls Course on day two in Lower Alabama, rocketing up the leaderboard with a 6-under 65.

Fassi was quiet early on Friday, parring her opening four holes before picking up her first birdie of the round on the par-5 5th hole to move to 2-under. She made another on the par-4 8th hole to turn at 3-under overall and then grabbed a third birdie on 10 to climb to 4-under.

The 26-year-old landed a one-two punch of birdies on holes 12 and 13 to get to 6-under for the tournament and 5-under for the round, picking up one final birdie on the par-4 16th hole to post at 7-under total and sit in a tie for second alongside Manon De Roey, Chisato Iwai and Pauline Roussin-Bouchard.

“We have a good game plan, and we're being aggressive whenever we can, but then also playing to the fat parts of the greens whenever we don't have that perfect number,” said Fassi after round two. “I think today we had a lot of those good numbers that we could be a little more aggressive. (Saturday) is probably going to be different, but we just are taking it one day at a time. Just trying to focus on my mental attitude, and I've been very proud of that the last two days.”

Final Qualifying wasn’t originally in Fassi’s plans at the beginning of the 2024 LPGA Tour season. It was a difficult year for the veteran, who made just seven cuts in 20 total starts and earned a season-best T12 result at the ShopRite LPGA Classic presented by Acer in June. It was a year-long performance that ultimately saw her finish 120th in the Race to the CME Globe, 20 spots outside the top 100 cutoff to maintain full status for 2025.

This is her first time playing in the last stage of LPGA Q-Series since she first earned LPGA Tour membership for the 2019 season via 2018 Final Qualifying, but it wasn’t easy at first for Fassi to accept her fate. She spent a lot of time after her last tournament of the year at The ANNIKA driven by Gainbridge at Pelican preparing herself mentally for this week in Mobile, Ala., as Fassi felt like that was just as important to her eventual success in Lower Alabama as shoring up the physical details of her golf game.

“It's been an extremely disappointing year for me, so I think it was just a new opportunity,” said Fassi of her mindset ahead of Final Qualifying. “I've said it with my team, this week is the beginning of the new year. I'm not even considering this as part of this year. In terms of where I'm at mentally, I did a lot of work from Pelican to now to get myself in the right headspace and enjoying golf a lot more.

“I've been so hard on myself this whole year because the results weren't what I wanted. It, of course, didn't work out because I'm here. But I think for this week and with the conditions, and it's cold, and it's tough, and everybody here, we're all fighting for the same thing. It's a tough week. I just kept telling myself, ‘Let's go out. Let's prepare the best way possible, and then let's just enjoy it.’ I am very, very proud of the work we put in the last couple of weeks.”

Now, through two days in Mobile, Ala., it appears that Fassi is well on her way to finishing in the top 25 at Final Qualifying and regaining LPGA Tour status for the 2025 season. However, there are still three rounds to play at Magnolia Grove, and even though she has put herself in prime position, Fassi is working as hard as she can to keep herself mentally in the game, knowing just how stressful the next 54 holes will feel as she battles to keep her position at the top of the leaderboard.

But Fassi is also making sure to spend some time with friends off the golf course, enjoying the company of others going through exactly what she is this week in Lower Alabama and reminding herself that, at the end of the day, she is ultimately more than just a professional golfer.

“(My caddie is) staying with (Alena Sharp) and (Csicsi Lajtai-Rozsa), one of the other caddies, and they're great people, and (I’m) good friends with both of them. (Doni is) like, ‘Hey, I'm cooking. Come over,’” said Fassi of her Thursday night dinner plans. “My psychologist says you got to take care of your human, and I think that's what we were doing. We’re people at the end of the day, and it's important that we're happy off the golf course because I think it really impacts what we do on the golf course.

“I’m very thankful for both of them. I’m very thankful for my caddie and my team because they're keeping me happy on and off the course.”

Maria Fassi Fires 65 in Round Two on Falls Course to Vault Up Board at Final Qualifying

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