GOLF: Fassi finds higher purpose with creation of foundation

ROGERS -- Maria Fassi admits that her golf game is not where she'd hoped it would be in her third year on the LPGA Tour.

The former University of Arkansas All-American has missed the cut in 11 events this season and has earned $88,873 in 2020. Fassi, 23, continued that same trend last week at the Portland Classic, shooting back-to-back 76s to miss the cut after successive top-20 finishes.

But Fassi, who will tee off at 1:43 p.m. today in the NW Arkansas Championship at Pinnacle Country Club, is not focusing on that aspect of her life right now. Instead, she's beaming over the launch of a part of her career she's dreamed about for six-plus years when she was still a rising collegiate star at Arkansas.

On Wednesday, Fassi publicly announced the start of her Fassi and Friends Foundation which will focus on helping children with special needs learn to play the game of golf. The foundation launched its first event at Top Golf in Rogers and will partner with the First Tee of Northwest Arkansas.

"I've been working very hard ... well, me and an amazing group of people behind me on setting up the foundation, making sure that every little detail was taken care of and we didn't leave anything for chance," Fassi said Thursday. "It was amazing. I mean, it was a dream that I've had for like six or seven years now of starting my own foundation to help just kids with special needs and underprivileged kids come and play the game of golf, and do it together, do it with kids who are maybe more fortunate than others and have each other learn from different experiences that we can all bring to the table."

The foundation is a personal mission for Fassi, whose cousin Josefina Gomez is a special needs person. Fassi said her cousin watched her play in a tournament in Mexico a few years ago and expressed that she, too, wanted to play golf.

"We grew up together and tried to do as many things as we could together," Fassi said. "She has brain paralysis and is mute and deaf, so a lot of the things that maybe I as a younger kid would try to do with her, we couldn't do or whatnot. This is something that can bring us even closer together. She set her head to it and she's now been playing golf for six years.

"It's been very inspiring to see her transition and how she's overcome so many different things that she's had to do to be able to play the game and stuff. So it's cool to see how her playing has also impacted the community around her and the people at the golf course where she practices. I know it's done a lot of good for her, for others, for her family. So that was kind of the reason why I wanted to do something similar, because I know how many kids maybe want to play the game and feel like they're not welcome or they don't have the opportunity to do it."

Fassi said she is hopeful the creation of her new foundation will give her the motivation she needs to raise the level of her play on the LPGA Tour.

"I feel like maybe even me not being as successful on tour as I had anticipated or as much as I would've liked to see my game be, made me realize that I was maybe lacking on a lot of the other things," she said. "The foundation was going to give me that purpose that maybe I was missing on the golf course, so I think that's why I decided to maybe start it at maybe such an early time in my career. This is only my third season on tour and I'm already starting with a foundation. There is a lot going on to make it happen. There is a lot of work, and maybe it could be said that I should be focusing on golf or whatever. I know personally I needed just something bigger than myself to play for, and I know now I have that extra motivation to raise awareness and of course money for the kids that are going to be part of the clinic.

"I think it could be very, very good for my career because I am definitely happier than I've ever been, and I have a bigger purpose than I ever have."