Skip to main content
Ole Miss

Michael La Sasso wins second individual NCAA National Championship for Ole Miss men's golf

11by: Jake Thompson05/27/25JakeThompsonOn3
Gr61CuyXIAAw-n9
Ole Miss men's golfer Michael La Sasso. Mandatory credit: Ole Miss athletics

Michael La Sasso has experienced setbacks and adversity over the two seasons at Ole Miss but not even stepping on a sea urchin was going to keep him from etching his name in the history books this week.

The Ole Miss men’s golfer added his name next to Braden Thornberry’s as the only other Rebel in program history to win the individual NCAA National Championship. La Sasso secured that honor on Monday shooting even par in his final round to shoot an overall 11-under and win the national title by two strokes.

He beat Texas A&M’s Phichaksn Maichon and had to overcome even more adversity during fourth round at Omni La Costa Resort and Spa in Carlsbad, California.

Starting on the back nine La Sasso scored double bogies on his sixth (15) and eighth (17) holes of the day to erase an early two-stroke lead he built through the first three holes. But he bounced back with a 2-under on his final nine holes to bring another national championship to Ole Miss.

“Yeah, you know, there was a little rough patch there. Kind of at the middle of the round,” La Sasso said. “Kind of being able to bounce back from that is something truly special, especially for myself and how this year’s gone. So, really being able to do that is very special.”

La Sasso made par on his final hole of the day to both seal his national title and to send Ole Miss to the match play portion of the NCAA National Championships for the first time.

The Rebels spent most of the final day of stroke play bouncing between being on the good and bad side of the cut line. The top eight teams advance to Tuesday’s quarterfinal round. The semifinals will also be played on Tuesday ahead of the championship round on Wednesday.

Ole Miss finished at 11-over and beating out Florida State (12-over) for the eighth and final spot.

“Free up, let’s go,” Ole Miss head coach Chris Malloy said of his message to the team. “It’s going to be a long day. Play for birdies and continue to play aggressively. We tried to play aggressively this week. We haven’t put the ball great, yet, but stay in that same mindset.”

You may also like