CARLSBAD, Calif. — Michael La Sasso was not the kind of hot head who tossed around clubs or curse words. He had a slow, internal burn, as described by Ole Miss men’s golf coach Chris Malloy, and La Sasso was more apt to shut down than act out. And at the outset of the 2024-25 season, the junior from Raleigh, N.C., was in a bad place with his golf and in despair.
MORE: Auburn’s Jackson Koivun earns PGA Tour card with fourth-place finish
That’s when Malloy and his staff decided La Sasso might need some help with his emotions and mental approach, and they put him together with a performance coach. La Sasso flipped his attitude, and that was never clearer than in the final round of stroke play in the NCAA Division I Championship on Monday at the Omni La Costa Resort & Spa.
A bad mud ball, a couple of plugged bunker lies and two double bogeys likely would have sent La Sasso spiraling a year ago. But he truly shrugged them off and rallied with two birdies on his back nine to shoot even-par 72 and claim the NCAA individual title with an 11-under-par total, two shots better than Texas A&M senior Phichaksn Maichon, who also shot 72.
La Sasso became the second Rebels player to win the individual crown, following Braden Thornberry in 2017, and as the last Ole Miss player on the course, La Sasso parred the last hole as the Rebels claimed their first berth in the eight-team match-play by one stroke over defending runner-up Florida State.
The win earned La Sasso a spot in the U.S. Open at Oakmont in two weeks, saving him a trip to Columbus, Ohio, where he was to compete in a 36-hole final qualifier before heading to play for the U.S. team in the Palmer Cup. He also likely earns an invitation into the 2026 Masters, as well as strong consideration for the American Walker Cup squad that takes on Great Britain & Ireland at Cypress Point in September.
Between his skill and attitude, La Sasso seems like a guy you’d want on your team.
“He has a fire that’s in there,” Malloy said. “I think it’s harnessing that and his emotions, which he’s done an incredible job of this year as a whole, and especially over the last month. We saw it at regionals and again coming into this week. … He was a rock star.”
La Sasso, who transferred to Ole Miss from North Carolina State after his freshman season, was ranked 11th in the WAGR heading into this week and is a Haskins Award finalist, but he was not among the most talked about in terms of contenders this week. He’d had a strong season, however, winning twice, posting six top-10s in 11 starts and led the Rebels in 10 statistical categories.
At La Costa, La Sasso took control early, shooting 68-67 to get to nine under after only two rounds. With a 70 on Sunday, he held a two-shot lead over Maichon and had to deal with trying to sleep on the biggest opportunity of his life.
“It’s never easy by any means,” La Sasso said. “… I tried my best last night. I was tossing and turning a little bit, kind of just thinking about what was at stake today. Coming out and getting off to a good start definitely helped.”
Similar to last year’s strange circumstance of the eventual champion Hiroshi Tai starting the final round on the 10th tee, La Sasso began his day on the far side of the property and birdied the first two holes. But he ran into some big trouble over the next stretch, getting a mud ball on the 13th for a bogey, driving into the water on the short par-4 15th for a double bogey, and suffering another double bogey at the 17th. Only a birdie at the par-3 16th saved the nine.
La Sasso could have lost it mentally there but smiled when recalling the performance coaching he got and how he reacted.
“You know, kind of just being able to have a level head and learn that we are just playing golf,” he said. “There’s no need to get too down on yourself. Golf is golf at the end of the dfay, and that’s what I was trying to tell myself.”
The emotional karma seemed to pay off with a couple of very fortunate breaks. Two holes after making birdie at No. 4, La Sasso pulled his second shot at the dogleg par 5, only for it to take a couple of bounces off a cart path and end up in the middle of the fairway. And from there he made his last birdie of the round.
On the seventh, La Sasso’s drive was headed for a bunker, but was stopped from going into the sand by a rake that had been left in the exact position by a teammate several groups in front. From a tough lie, La Sasso’s approach sailed the green, but he made a tremendous up and down there to save par. He then smoothly played the final two holes to wrap up the individual title and his Rebels entry into the final eight.
The coach, Malloy, marveled at a bizarre and wonderous last year for Ole Miss that included La Sasso being sick for last year’s SEC Championships and regional when the team didn’t reach the NCAA Championship; and then La Sasso suffering wounds to both feet and a hand in March when he stepped on the spines of a black sea urchin during some team beach time at a tournament in Cabo San Lucas, Mexico. La Sasso’s injuries required a couple of hours of gruesome surgery—”You kind of have to dig them out because they have barbs in them”—but he toughed it out to play and tied for 15th in the event that allowed carts.
“If it’s weird and could happen, we’ve had it happen,” Malloy said with a laugh. “So, you know, it was nice to have a little smooth sailing this week.”
Beginning a long day on Tuesday, when the quarterfinals and semifinals will be played, the Rebels have a morning matchup with Arizona State, which earned the top seed by shooting eight under on Monday to have a 14-under total. That was two shots better than defending champion Auburn, which takes on Virginia (nine over). The other quarters feature third-seeded Florida (nine under) against Texas (five over), and fourth seed Oklahoma State (one under) versus Oklahoma (even).
This article was originally published on golfdigest.com
