Get to know Michael La Sasso, the NCAA individual champion, as he makes his second PGA TOUR start at the 2025 Rocket Classic! 🏌️♂️ In this heartfelt press conference, Michael reflects on his whirlwind month, from winning the NCAA Championship to competing at the U.S. Open at Oakmont. A North Carolina native with a baseball background, he shares how he transitioned to golf, his admiration for players like Martin Kaymer and Akshay Bhatia, and the mentorship of Ole Miss alum Braden Thornberry. With a contagious smile and a dream-big mindset, Michael discusses his excitement for the Rocket Classic and his aspirations for PGA TOUR U in 2026. Don’t miss this inspiring story of grit and gratitude! ⛳ #MichaelLaSasso #RocketClassic #Golf2025 #PGATour
all good all right we’d like to welcome Michael Assasso here to the media center at the Rocket Classic um Michael this is your second start in a PGA Tour event second one I guess in the last month um I guess we can open up some marks what you’re looking forward to this week yeah first PJ Tour event uh it’s pretty special coming to Detroit uh I’ve known about this one for a while i’ve had it circled on uh my calendar so being here having the ability to be out here and all the support I’ve got it’s it’s pretty unbelievable so and then looking back the last month for you um winning the individual championship as a playing US Open at Oakmont and now making this start this week can you kind of explain what the last month has been like for you yeah I’ve been very busy um we were kind of joking about how many flights I’ve been on it’s kind of something that uh I’ve not been recently exposed to but hopefully I can in the future um but yeah it’s I feel like I’ve been on the road consistently uh but it’s been great you know it’s something that I’m fortunate to be a part of and you know my head’s kind of still spinning from everything kind of haven’t really gone back home yet for a good stretch of time so uh definitely after this little stretch is up go back home decompress a little bit and be ready to do it again so All right uh if you guys have any questions for Michael if you just raise your hand we can get a microphone over to you um we’ll start right here with Kevin hey Michael um I was wondering I guess playing the NCAA championship and if all the perks that came with it Brett how aware you were of them and were they on the line at all and then just in general the celebration of that how did it feel to win that and kind of what was going through your mind in the aftermath of that yeah it was great um my assistant coach walks with me a good bit um so we were trying to just laugh have a good time try and not take it too serious it’s definitely hard trying to go to sleep at night kind of knowing what you’re playing for um but kind of the turnaround was pretty quick we had match play that next morning at 8:00 a.m and kind of didn’t get off the course until late especially with all the awards ceremonies and everything um but yeah kind of it was kind of a a rush thing and then kind of once we were done with the event and kind of had time to decompress kind of just talking with all the guys and having the ability to just kind of laugh smile and we’re we stoked with how far we made it and kind of are happy and are glad that we we know we can make it that far and we have a a good crew returning so trying to just do it again next year you know I guess in a general sense it’s a little of a way back question but how old were you when you first started golf who um introduced you to the game and what was it I guess were the other sports that vi for your attention and what was it that gave golf kind of the edge yeah so uh so I was I was born into a big baseball family uh my dad had um season tickets to the Yankees for uh way before I was born uh so I was always into the travel baseball tournaments kind of going back and forth and then kind of started to pick up a club actually like my sixth grade year uh so I kind of got started a little bit later than most most people uh I do remember I I did choose baseball over golf because for North Carolina they’re both a spring sport so I chose baseball in sixth grade and then finally started to transition uh seventh grade year to start playing um varsity golf actually at the time um and yeah it was kind of always a a constant battle between I was in between baseball tennis and golf my mom did not want me playing a contact sport so kind of just trying to find something that was uh like low maintenance on the body uh and just kind of having the Yeah just trying to take it easy not get any injuries um and so it worked out great i I think I chose the right sport for me i mean I don’t know where I would be if I was playing baseball but golf has worked out a little bit so Do you have a um favorite like golfer from growing up do you either emulate or just enjoy watching them play and then you have a favorite baseball player team as well yeah so actually it was a funny story so I played in the US Open uh two weeks ago and in 2019 like my first real golf experience i was a standard bearer out at uh Pebble Beach um so I kind of watched a ton of guys growing up there and that was kind of like my first time hearing the shots seeing them kind of having the ability to like actually watch like how those guys played and like the noise that it came off their club uh and so I was I walked around with uh Martin Kimer was a guy that I I followed for a long time um because he was great to me kind of walked around with him and I just kind of love the way that he play another one was uh Thomas Peters and then I I didn’t even know that he went to Illinois and then I had a couple good buddies that play at Illinois now and just graduated so I thought he was also one that was pretty cool to follow and watch um but yeah kind of everybody that was a big name like I know my I was a little bit too young for it but like the whole Tiger era um I mean I remember we put on the Masters in 2019 and I kind of had no idea what was going on but my dad was kind of screaming at the TV he was going crazy so kind of being exposed to it a little bit later uh I didn’t really follow a ton of it um but I mean everybody I look up to another big one for me is always Ash we kind of gone to the same swing coach you know he’s been in North Carolina for a long time um so kind of watching him grow up made the decision to skip college turn professional and then kind of seeing the success that he had it was like the coolest thing ever and then baseball did you have a favorite baseball home player or team yeah I was uh big Derek Jeter fan back in the day uh we went up actually to one of the games and then uh my dad actually got tickets from my grandfather and him and they went up to the World Series this year at in uh up in uh New York so kind of being a part of that that was pretty cool i mean I was kind of always born into a Yankees fan and uh my dad was just like a complete nerd about it and so he would fill me in on everything and all the history and stuff like that and we’ll go to Jay next on the far right hey Michael uh you’ve had a lot of success in your junior year at Old Miss um but you still have a lot to play for in your senior year um what can you take from the that you’ve had as a junior uh into your senior year yeah so I like I said I kind of got into golf a little bit later um and so I I never really won as a junior um kind of had a couple good glimpses my freshman year and sophomore year uh that was kind of like the first time I ever held a lead overnight and trying to just deal with that and then finally was able to break through this year so kind of knowing that you know I’m very very much capable of being able to compete on a collegiate level um you know I won a couple times uh in the junior year but it was more just kind of maturing a little bit having the ability to realize like all right my time management needs to be in the right spot um and kind of just knowing that what it takes to actually win most times you got to think it’s perfect golf for all 54 holes for us but I mean there’s going to be some rough stretches and kind of how you handle that and just are able to keep like a good mindset and just kind of smile it’s what I’ve kind of just been trying to take into this summer and into the senior year all right next question come to the middle for Adam how does a kid from North Carolina end up being a standard bearer at the US Open in Pebble Beach yeah um so kind of another funny story so the golf course that I grew up at Kevin O’Connell won the medam and he actually played in the 2019 US Open at Pebble Beach and he actually got food poisoning so I’m not sure if he actually played but he was out there um and so he was a guy that I played a lot of golf with growing up and so kind of when I saw the opportunity that he had to go play out there I think my dad just tried to see if I could get a volunteer position for the USGA and it ended up working out um and so he kind of surprised me with that and just we had tickets and ended up just going out there and it was like the coolest experience ever uh what did you take away from playing in your first US Open golf is hard that was a good thing um but just kind of being a part of history like Oakmont is like the coolest place ever uh I went up there with uh a couple of buddy of my agent and we played it with Windham Clark the Monday the week before um and so kind of just being there kind of before everything was set up and kind of just being able to see Oakmont and it was more of like a a low-key environment and like actually seeing the history of everything and kind of how the golf course was laid out was I mean it was unbelievable i really that whole week it was kind of like a blur you know it was just felt like a dream so recall when you kind of thought you were good enough that this could be something you’d got get to do someday playing on the PJ tour yeah I still kind of have goosebumps going to bed at night um realizing that I’m I’m playing here this week um but you know it’s it’s kind of come pretty quickly at me so just kind of being able to look around and actually enjoy where I am and you know kind of just being grateful for the experience okay any other questions we’ll come back to Kevin here on the left hey Michael I know um Brandon Thorberry had a lot of success too at Old Miss and I was wondering if you’ve spent any time with him or kind of picked his brain or just had any interactions you’ve had with him if at all yeah tons so well Old Miss is big on alumni um so we have Jackson Suber Braden Thornberry Evan Brown’s playing this week um but Braden lives in Memphis um and so he comes down pretty much every Monday uh when their golf courses are closed and you know I always try and make make time in my day if it’s kind of uh trying to get out of class early trying to go just like spend time with him pick his brain i mean he’s like the nicest guy ever um and he’s great you know he asks a ton of questions he’s great to us um and so just to have the ability to talk with a guy that’s kind of seen everything um is is something that is pretty underrated you know he’s he’s helped us a lot you know I actually was calling him a good bit at the national championship kind of before the final round just like you know I know you’ve had experience with this before uh we were in a little bit different of positions um but he was just he was kind of saying like you you have to go play to win you know if you’re trying to be conservative that’s where you kind of get into trouble so just kind of having to lean on him a little bit and uh just being able to ask him questions and you know smile and laugh with him and now that we’re playing together this week and in the same tournament is is a pretty cool feeling swing analysis really but he’s got a unique swing too how How would you analyze his swing and kind of how would you describe you know his action and what makes it unique yeah I’ve I’ve played a bunch of golf with him and he is I mean he’s pure there’s no other way to put it um you know he rolls the rock pretty good too um so just you know there’s multiple ways to get it done uh his game and my game are are a little bit different um but kind of just seeing what I can pick from his brain and you know kind of see like what he’s struggled with in the past or what it takes to play and compete on like the next level um just to kind of have the ability to to be able to ask those questions and see it firsthand is you know like everybody’s different um so just being able to find it Very cool were you guys on the team following um LA last fall at the KFT championship he had like a iconic final round to get his tour card were you guys aware of that at all yeah we uh so we were actually playing we were in a practice round uh Maidstone up in New York it was the Hampton’s event um and our golf coach had it up in his cart i think like after kind of like the final putt started to fall and you know he was kind of in the clubhouse pretty early uh and I know he was waiting around and you know after we were done I mean I know our golf coach started crying um and it was just kind of like very cool for him to see because he’s been fighting out on the corn ferry for multiple years um so it’s pretty cool to finally see him kind of break through uh and I mean I hope the world of him you know he’s he’s been a great mentor the nicest guy ever to us so I’m glad that it finally has started to pan out for him and you know he can kind of just play on the PGA tour this is one I ask pretty much everyone it’s a offbeat one but you can take it anyway what What’s one thing that you like about yourself like about myself uh you know I I try and keep it pretty light um you know something about me is I if I if you’re not enjoying what you’re doing there’s kind of no point in doing it um so I try and keep a smile all the time um take it pretty light and just kind of enjoy and know where you’re at i mean it’s so easy to get caught up in everything especially like with all the tournaments and people it’s a little bit of a different environment um but just realize like how cool it is to actually be here uh have the ability to play first PJ Tour event very special um so just smile take it all in and just grateful to be here all right we’ll go back over to here Jay before we wrap it up hello um so looking ahead to the PJ tour class um of 2026 is that in your mind at all and how exciting is it um that a year from now you potentially could be playing as a PJ tour member yeah I mean having the uh I think what PJ Tour U has done is unbelievable and kind of like having the success of players that have come out and blitzed it um you know talking about Levig Clayton’s another one um you know David Ford all so kind of like all the bigger names that have kind of gone done through PJ tour and like now are playing very well um to kind of be able to follow in their footsteps I think is pretty cool and you know it’s just an absolute blessing um you know just to kind of have a place to play after college and kind of be in the spotlight is uh is pretty cool you know for me like all of this is pretty new um I know most of these kids have like especially in my class we have a bunch of big names um and most of them already turned professional um but kind of like them having the experience of kind of having the spotlight on them for me it’s a little different this is kind of the first time in front of the lights um so just you know having the ability to to do that and compete um and have the ability to be on PJ Tour U and are playing for my future i I think it’s the coolest thing ever so I’m grateful to be a part of it last question here we’ll go to Adam anyone reach out to you after you won the NCA that surprised you or that you know was kind of unexpected no I mean the support was unbelievable uh I mean I had uh you know kind of coming back home my elementary school wanted me to go speak for them uh and kind of talk through some stuff uh and so I actually have that penciled in on my calendar um but you know I I just for me it’s you know I’ve volunteered at golf camp for uh NC State the past I don’t know four or five years um so just kind of be able to make time for people that you know kind of grew me into the game of golf and kind of just trying to go back and make sure that I can kind of take care of the people that really brought me into the game is kind of more of what I’ve paid attention to now if there’s somebody that actually reached out that was pretty cool um one that I thought was pretty cool that I did not think I would get recognized from is Jackson Dart uh he was our quarterback at Old Miss um so kind of just having the support from other sports at Old Miss and you know him kind of reaching out to me I thought that was pretty cool you know I wasn’t really expecting it whatsoever um but I’m glad he reached out and I I actually was started laughing when I saw that come across so what’s the name of the elementary school and what’s your message going to be to the kids yeah um so I went to the Raleigh school uh it’s changed a little bit since I’ve been there um but there’s still a bunch of teachers that actually grew up uh you know if if I had to tell those kids there it would be dream big uh I think that’s something that you know I never thought I’d really be able to stand on this podium right here and be talking to you guys um but just kind of being able to believe in yourself and the sky’s is the limit you know people are always going to try and tell you one thing or another but you know if you believe in yourself and have the ability and the courage to speak it I mean I think the world is yours so awesome thank you for the time Michael best of luck this week thank you
