Mexico not only has high performance athletes in Europe in soccer or cycling. He golf A space also opens up thanks to Fernanda Lira.
Born in the Mexico City 30 years ago, she is currently the second best national representative in the world golf ranking and the only one with a card for the Ladies European Tour (LET) 2026, this being the highest league on the Old Continent.
He started at the age of seven thanks to a video game (Mario Golf, from nintendo) but a scholarship at the University of Central Arkansas and other international tournaments as a teenager confirmed his goal of becoming a professional. So far, he has participated in three highly prestigious leagues: Epson Tour, LET and LET Access.
“I began to like golf a lot because I went to several national tournaments and, as I was doing quite well, I was able to reach some international ones. When I was convinced that I could be a professional it was in a tournament in Scotland. I was 15 years old and I saw that I really liked to travel, play on different courses and that was when I said that I definitely wanted to be a professional, that that would be my career focus.”
In chat with The Economist, Fernanda Lira He shares not only the origin of his relationship with golf, but also why he preferred Europe over the United States to build his career and the economic challenges that this entails.
Rediscover the illusion
Fernanda was connected to the United States in many ways, starting with a tournament she played in vegas before the age of 20 and which allowed her to be recruited by coach Natasha Vincent for the University of Central Arkansas.
He emigrated there in 2014 to study Marketing and develop his golf. She won the 2015 UALR/ASU Women’s Classic at the collegiate level and in 2018 she made her professional debut.
Just a year later she arrived at the Epson Tour, considered a ‘promotion league’ to obtain the LPGA Tour card, the most recognized women’s circuit in the world and with the best financial purses.
On the Epson Tour he achieved his first professional victory in 2021 at the FireKeepers Casino Hotel Championship. However, she never reached the score to reach the LPGA Tour. That led her to make a decision in 2023.
“I had two very good seasons, but not enough to get my card. So, by going to the same events and cities in USAwhich were very long and tiring, there came a point where I was no longer excited. That’s when I decided to look for another tour where I could see if this was what I wanted to continue doing. I chose to go to LET.”
He describes that LET has better purses than the Epson Tour, although lower than the LPGA Tour. However, it allows you to travel to events not only in Europe, but also in Oceania, Asia and Africa.
“Since there is no tour in Mexico or nearby, apart from the Epson Tour or LPGA Tour, more than anything it is because of that. I changed my scene and I saw that I still love to make a living from this. I am very happy to see that that spark was lit again.”
The spark was reflected in the five victories he achieved in 2025 in LET Access, which is the circuit to promote to LET.
Lira competed in LET for the first time in 2024, but adapting to travel, always returning to Mexico to do training bases, diminished her physical condition. In 2025 he descended to LET Access and the results improved, so in 2026 he will be back in LET.
“LET is a tour where you travel around the world and I figured I could travel 16 hours by plane without it weighing on my body in the long term. My husband is from England and this year, on free weeks, I went there so as not to travel to Mexico, to be much closer to the tournaments and not have a time change. I learned a lot last year and this year, so I am very excited to apply everything I have learned for the next one.”
For now, according to the official LET site, she is the only Mexican present on the list of participants. There are also Latin American representatives of Panama, Colombia, Argentina and other nations.
Expenses and dreams
A season in LET costs Fernanda Lira around 2 million pesos. At the beginning of 2025, another Mexican golfer, Isabella Fierroshared with this newspaper that a year on Epson Tour demanded 2.5 million from him.
“What is different about them is that the purses are a little bigger in LET and that means winning more money when you play. In addition, the registrations are much smaller. In LET they charge around 125 euros, while in the Epson Tour, when I left, it was 400 dollars. Now I think it is between 300 and 350 per tournament. There are many more investments in the Epson Tour and, unless you are playing very well, you are not going to come out with zero,” he details. to the economic issue.
However, in sports, good results in the Epson Tour guarantee ‘promotion’ to the LPGA Tour, a different situation in LET.
“In LET, if you play very well, you get to the last stage of qualifying for the LPGA Tour. You have to make an extra step, so to speak, if you want to get to the LPGA from this side.”
Lira is aware of these differences, although they do not diminish her greatest dreams: to be an Olympic medalist for Mexico and to help children and adolescents get more scholarships in the United States, regardless of whether they become professional athletes.
“I had the fortune of representing Mexico in the Central American Games in El Salvador (2023). It was something very cool and different from what I am used to individually. My plan is, in the short term, to climb more points in the ranking to also qualify for the 2026 Central American Games, the Pan American Games 2027 and with the goal of reaching Los Angeles in 2028, especially now that they have opened the new mixed category in golf.”
She is currently only behind Gaby López among Mexican women in the world ranking. Golf returned to the Olympics in Rio 2016 and since then Gaby herself, Alejandra Llaneza and María Fassi have participated for the country.
Fernanda explains her other dream: “Obviously everyone wants to win tournaments like The Openbut I think that, honestly, I would really like to help boys and girls get to university, so that they get scholarships and have that experience whether they want to be professionals or not.
“Especially for women, there are many scholarships open in the United States. Golf is not a common sport for women there, so it is a window of opportunity, also in disciplines such as gymnastics, soccer and more. It would be great if many children and young people have the opportunity to have those experiences, to leave home, grow and realize many things, to study there and prepare themselves better through scholarships.”
While those dreams crystallize, Fernanda Lira will continue to raise the Mexican flag in European golf in search of more victories.
