What is even better than winning your first tournament on the Symetra Tour? Winning it by shooting 62 in the final round. That's exactly what Fernanda Lira did in the 2021 Firekeepers Casino Hotel Championship.
That tournament concluded on August 8, with Lira the winner by six strokes. She carded rounds of 70, 65 and 62 to finish at 19-under 197 and earn the first-place check of $26,250. Lira's 62 was bogey-free, and she had 10 birdies, including on five of the last six holes. What a way to storm to victory!
The 26-year-old is from Mexico and played college golf at the University of Central Arkansas. Her rookie year as a Symetra Tour pro was 2019.
She does have a previous professional win this year, however: Lira also won the 2021 Mountain Ranch Championship on the WAPT (Women's All Pro Tour), which is a feeder into the Symetra Tour. Her previous best finish on the Symetra Tour was in the 2021 Twin Bridges Championship, a tie for 11th place.
The victory in the Firekeepers Casino Hotel Championship bumped her up to 19th on the Symetra Tour money list. To that point, Fernanda had played eight Symetra Tour tournaments in 2021 and made the cut in all eight.
"Incredibly grateful with my win yesterday," she wrote on Instagram. "I went out there with one goal, to control the controllables and let go of the results. Happy to have my new personal best being 62 and first time bogey-free tournament (both haven’t sunk in)."
