By Keely Levins
The final few regular-season LPGA events each year are especially stressful if you’re hovering around Nos. 60 and 100 in the CME Globe standing. Points are accrued at every LPGA event throughout the season, and at the end of the year the top 60 and ties get into the CME Group Tour Championship, and the top 100 keep their tour cards for the next season.
Maria Fassi was outside of the top 60 when the Pelican Women’s Championship began earlier this week, but things started looking much better for her when she shot a first-round 62.
After being the first-round leader, she shot a 69 on Saturday and entered the final round of the shortened 54-hole tournament one shot off the lead. She struggled early on Sunday, turning in two over and finished bogey-bogey to shoot a one-over 71 and tie for seventh place.
On her final hole, Fassi had an 80-foot putt which she needed to two-putt to secure a spot at the CME finale. It’s about the last putt you’d want to see under these circumstances. Kay Cockerill, Golf Channel’s on-course reporter, said Fassi jokingly asked her if she wanted to hit it for her. The long, wildly breaking putt was brutal, and Fassi left it 20 feet short and she ultimately three-putted the hole. Had she two-putted, she’d have finished T-4 and earned 46.25 more CME points and gained entry into the tour championship. Instead, her season ends as she remained outside of the top 60, a painfully close call for the 24-year-old from Mexico.
Fassi is one of several bubble players who didn’t their way into the CME field. Though the official CME field hasn’t yet been announced, the LPGA did confirm that no one who was outside of the field before the Pelican Women’s Championship earned entry into it this week’s event via their performance.
Further down the list at the top 100 mark, Morgane Metraux was able to move from the bubble to inside the top 100 with her finish at the Pelican. The 25-year-old rookie from Switzerland finished T-4 at the Pelican to move up from 101st on the CME points list to 82nd. Thanks to the best finish of her season, she’ll keep her card for 2023.
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