CARLSBAD, Calif. – The night before he became an NCAA individual champion, Michael La Sasso tossed and turned in his sleep, just thinking about what was at stake Monday at Omni La Costa.
An exemption into this summer’s U.S. Open.
A likely invitation to next year’s Masters.
NCAA immortality.
“Sleeping with a lead is never easy by any means,” said La Sasso, who led Texas A&M senior Phichaksn Maichon by two shots through 54 holes, “so to try and shut your mind off and go to bed is a very underrated thing to do.”
The next morning Maichon, starting five groups ahead of La Sasso on No. 10, opened his final round with a bang, back-to-back birdies to quickly erase La Sasso’s lead before the Ole Miss junior event teed off. La Sasso would match Maichon’s two-birdie start, but then his opening nine started to unravel – a mud ball and bogey on No. 13; two plugged lies; a pair of double bogeys, at Nos. 15 and 17.
The La Sasso that first arrived in Oxford, Mississippi, two summers ago from North Carolina State likely would’ve hung his head after that 2-over 38, which put La Sasso two strokes down to Maichon at the turn.
It was just last August, a week before the start of the fall semester, that La Sasso was sulking on the practice green at Ole Miss’ golf complex when Rebels assistant Emerson Newsome told him, “Dude, you have got to snap out of it.” La Sasso had just tied for 191st at the U.S. Amateur, the wrong kind of exclamation point to a disastrous summer. La Sasso had contracted a stomach virus at the SEC Championship a few months before and lost 22 pounds. Also taking a hit were his swing and confidence.
“I had this victim mindset,” La Sasso said. “I had missed first-team All-American; I was the only kid on the Palmer Cup team who wasn’t. I was wondering to myself, like, am I not meant to be here? Am I a fluke? Emerson’s like, ‘You’re plenty good enough. You have to be more optimistic.’”
La Sasso began working with a performance coach this season, and by the spring, Malloy noticed “a light bulb had gone off in his head.” La Sasso’s NCAA triumph marked his third win of the season and was his 10th finish of T-13 or better. He overcame the flu to share 13th in Puerto Rico earlier this spring, and then less than a month later, he finished the same at the Cabo Collegiate despite stepping on a black sea urchin during a beach trip the day before the first round. Malloy urged La Sasso, who had to undergo four hours of surgery to remove all the spines from his right foot and hand, to sit out, but La Sasso ignored him.
“I’ve personally fought a s— ton of stuff these last two years since I’ve been at Ole Miss,” La Sasso said, “and I feel like I’m a pretty gritty guy.”
At the NCAA Tallahassee Regional two weeks ago, La Sasso didn’t bring his best stuff and still finished runner-up to imminent PGA Tour player Luke Clanton on his home golf course. La Sasso played alongside Clanton on Monday as he looked to close out easily the biggest win of his career.
“This was new territory for him,” Malloy said. “We sat down and had a quick talk this morning, and looking at his eyes, he looked like he was ready for the moment, and he ultimately was.”
Added La Sasso: “I told myself if I just keep playing my game, good things would come.”
Maichon, who plans to turn pro this summer with a Korn Ferry Tour card in hand thanks to PGA Tour University, bogeyed Nos. 5 and 6 to drop back to 9 under; he’d par in to shoot a closing 72 and finish two shots ahead of Oklahoma State’s Preston Stout – and three clear of La Sasso’s buddy Jackson Koivun of Auburn and reigning U.S. Amateur winner Josele Ballester of Arizona State.
Meanwhile, the bounces finally started to go La Sasso’s way. He played a bogey-free final nine, which included birdies on Nos. 4 and 6, the latter being a par-5 where La Sasso’s drive took three bounces off the left cart path before ricocheting into the fairway; that birdie moved La Sasso back to 11 under, where he’d end up after a 72 of his own. On the next hole, the par-4 seventh, La Sasso’s tee ball nestled against a bunker rake, which was left by another Ole Miss player a few groups ahead. Said La Sasso later to that teammate: “Nice rake job.” La Sasso would still fly the green with his approach, but he saved par with a clutch up-and-down.
Clanton carded an uncharacteristic 4-over 76 as Florida State, where Malloy was an assistant under Trey Jones over a decade ago, played the last three holes in a combined 6 over to finish at 12 over. The Rebels were 4 over in that stretch, though La Sasso’s tap-in for par at No. 9 narrowly sealed the eighth seed in match play for Ole Miss, which will meet Arizona State in Tuesday morning’s quarterfinals.
Virginia, which climbed four places to seventh, gets reigning NCAA team champion Auburn. Florida, after the round of the day (8 under), will face host Texas. And Oklahoma State and Oklahoma will square off for the first time ever in NCAA match play.
Florida State declined a Golf Channel request to speak to Clanton, who is expected to make his pro debut as a PGA Tour member next week at the RBC Canadian Open.
La Sasso, who has one more year of eligibility, was thrilled for the professional opportunities that will now be given to him. He no longer has to fly to U.S. final qualifying later this week in Columbus, Ohio, and he can instead take a few days off before the Arnold Palmer Cup at Congaree and his major debut at Oakmont. He’s also in the Rocket Mortgage Classic in July – and more invites will surely pop up soon.
“He’s going to have a lot thrown on his plate, but he’ll be ready and figure it out,” Malloy said. “… He’s earned it, and I’m just really looking forward to watching him do it.”
This is just Ole Miss’ third time at the NCAA Championship under Malloy – and Tuesday will mark its first match-play appearance. But twice now the Rebels have boasted the individual winner, with current PGA Tour pro Braden Thornberry being the first to accomplish the feat in 2017 at Rich Harvest Farms.
Thornberry recently played nine holes with La Sasso, and on Sunday night talked with the eventual NCAA champ on the phone. Thornberry’s biggest piece of advice was to appreciate how special the opportunity was just to have a chance at winning a national championship.
“I thought about that a few times today,” La Sasso said. “To be able to follow in his footsteps is pretty unbelievable.”
Unlike Thornberry, though, La Sasso will have to pause his celebration and flip the switch to match play. La Sasso will go out in the anchor match opposite Arizona State star Preston Summerhays. History favors La Sasso as NCAA individual champions are 6-1 all-time in their quarterfinal match.
Malloy certainly isn’t worried about his star.
“The guy wakes up with his hair on fire,” Malloy said. “He’s not going to have any lack of motivation.”
Much is still at stake.
