I took that advice to heart. I moved back to Northwest Arkansas, an environment where I know the people, where I can work on my game and where I feel as though I can be the best version of myself. I also began the Maria Fassi Foundation to help children of all abilities to come together and support each other through golf.

Playing the LPGA Tour hasn’t gotten easier. The competition is as fierce as ever and the fields week-in and week-out are deeper than at any time in the game’s history. But I have gotten comfortable in this environment. As Annika predicted, my relationships are different as well. But they are also meaningful and impactful. I love my friends on Tour. I have veterans I go to for advice, players like Stacy Lewis who has been a huge help in my development as a professional.

I also have a reminder of what it means to be an athlete, a friend, and a role model for others. My sophomore year at Arkansas was rough. I had golf troubles, roommate problems, school stuff – the growing pains every college student goes through. Like many young adults, I was scared about what could happen, so I wasn’t seizing opportunities. I was saying things like, ‘What if I fail?’ or ‘What if I let my family down?’ I was focusing on the what-ifs and not on the things that were right in front of me.

During that time, I began reading a lot of books. A theme emerged in all of them, one that I remembered from my days growing up with my brothers in Mexico. Fear and happiness are incompatible. Fear is crippling. It is a compounding weight that gets heavier with age. It affects every part of your life. I knew this from my time as a child. When I would go to the soccer fields with my brothers, they looked like giants. I knew that there was a chance I could be hurt or embarrassed. When I jumped into the swimming pool for a race, I knew that I might finish last; that I might disappoint my coaches and my parents. But pushing through those fears felt good. Somehow, as my teens slipped away and I entered the scary world of my 20s, I forgot that feeling. I had let fear seep into my daily life. And it was beating me down.

The Choice To Be Fearless

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