NAPLES, Fla. — While 60 LPGA players are in the field at this week’s CME Group Tour Championship, 62 will be walking the course during the LPGA Tour’s final event of the 2023 season. Maria Fassi and Jessica Korda, who are not playing at Tiburon Golf Club, will be on-air talents doing on-course reporting and interviews for ESPN+’s 30 hours of featured groups coverage.
The opportunity came together quickly. Only two weeks ago, after the end of the Toto Japan Classic and shortly after Fassi talked with fellow tour members that she would want to do TV after her playing career, she got a text from Matt Chmura, the LPGA’s Chief Marketing, Communications and Brand Officer. He asked if Fassi would be interested in commentating if she didn’t play her way to the Tour Championship.
“I was like, ‘yeah, why not?’” Fassi said. “Let’s give it a shot.”
Fassi finished 76th on the CME points list to miss being eligible for the CME, this pivoting to work with Korda, who has been away from the tour most of the year and announced her pregnancy in August. The players will work alongside Chantel McCade as reporters at Tiburon Golf Club. It’s a full-circle moment for McCabe, from commenting on Fassi’s play during featured group coverage at last year’s Walmart NW Arkansas Championship to working alongside her this week.
This article was originally published on golfdigest.com
