Kroger Queen City Championship presented by P&G
Kenwood Country Club (Kendale Course) | Cincinnati, Ohio | Sept. 8-11, 2022
Third-Round Notes
Sept. 10, 2022
Course Setup: 36-36—72; 6,357 yards (Scoring Average: R1: 71.807, R2: 71.223, R3: 71.679)
Weather: Partly to mostly cloudy skies with southeasterly winds gusting at 16-18 mph at times and temperatures topping out at 79F
MARIA FASSI ON THE INCLINE OF GOLF’S ROLLER COASTER
The game is not a straight-line progression. Just because your scores are better now than they were a year ago does not guarantee that the trend will continue. Maria Fassi knows that better than most. Highly touted when she turned pro in 2019 after winning the individual NCAA Championship and finishing runner up in the first Augusta National Women’s Amateur, Fassi was a can’t-miss superstar, the kind of long-hitting athlete who should win early and often on the LPGA Tour.
A tick more than three years later, the 24-year-old from Mexico knows how fickle the game can be. So far in 2022, Fassi has missed more cuts than she has made – five in 13 starts – and her only top-10 came in the Dow Great Lakes Bay Invitational with her friend and mentor Stacy Lewis by her side.
That could change on Sunday in Cincinnati as Fassi finds herself on the incline of golf’s rollercoaster, a shot off the lead going into the final round of the Kroger Queen City Championship presented by P&G. She got there by hitting her wedges close and taking advantage of her length on the soft fairways at Kenwood Country Club.
For more, please visit https://www.lpga.com/news/2022/fassi-on-the-incline-of-golfs-rollercoaster.
PLAYER NOTES
Rolex Rankings No. 175, Maria Fassi (2, 68-66-67)
- She hit 12 of 14 fairways and 15 of 18 greens with 28 putts
- Fassi’s 201 ties the second-lowest 54-hole score of her career which she last recorded at the 2021 ShopRite LPGA Classic presented by Acer
- Sunday will be the first time that Fassi has played in the final group in her LPGA Tour career
- This is her 14th event of the 2022 season; her best finish is a solo third that came at the Dow Great Lakes Bay Invitational when she was partnered with Stacy Lewis
- This is Fassi’s fourth season on the LPGA Tour; she’s made $609,417 in career earnings and has notched three top-10 finishes
- Fassi represented Mexico at the 2020 Tokyo Olympics where she finished T23
- She won 2019 NCAA Women’s Championship Division I Individual Title and was the runner-up at the inaugural Augusta National Women’s Amateur that same year
- She was a two-time ANNIKA Award winner during her collegiate career at the University of Arkansas (2018 & 2019)
Challenges that include chaser Maria Fassi, who sits one back at -15 after matching Ewing’s 5-under 67 on Moving Day. The 24-year-old made four birdies and one bogey to turn in 33, and after carding five straight pars from Nos. 10-14, Fassi holed out a flop-shot on the par-5 15th for an eagle, a highlight that elicited an enthusiastic “Vamos!” from the fiery Mexican. This is the third time in a stroke-play event that Fassi has been within five of the lead entering the final round, and with all of the struggles she’s faced this year, a good result is much-needed.
“We were saying that it was honestly the worst spot I could have left myself for my third shot, and my only thought was try to hit it as high as you can. Of course the result was extra, but I hit a fantastic golf shot and very happy that it went in and I could get some momentum for the last few holes,” said Fassi. “I’ve said it with my team and the people around me know that this has been a tough year. But the golf was there. I haven’t seen the results yet, so I’m super excited to see what tomorrow holds, and keep doing what we’re doing of having a lot of fun on the golf course with Gary. I’m excited that we get 18 more holes to do it again.”
WITH A WIN
Ally Ewing would be the fifth different American to win during the 2022 season, joining Danielle Kang, Jennifer Kupcho, Marina Alex and Lizette Salas
Ewing would earn her third career LPGA Tour victory and first since the 2021 Bank of Hope LPGA Match-Play presented by MGM Rewards
Maria Fassi would be the third different Mexican to win on the LPGA Tour, joining Lorena Ochoa and Gaby Lopez; she would be the second consecutive winner from Mexico this season after Lopez won last week’s Dana Open presented by Marathon
Xiyu Lin would become just the second Chinese winner on the LPGA Tour, joining Shanshan Feng who won 10 times during her career
Lin would pass the $3 million mark in career earnings with the $262,500 winner’s check; her earnings would total $3,049,314
Lin, Fassi, Sarah Kemp and Megan Khang would be the ninth Rolex First-Time Winner of the 2022 season
- It would tie for third-highest number of First-Time winners in a season, and would be only the fifth time in the Tour’s history where there were at least nine different First-Time Winners in one year
COURTESY LPGA TOUR COMMUNICATIONS
