Ole Miss star and NCAA individual champ Michael La Sasso (Masters invite secured) brings swagger to Jackson after a blazing 63 at the 3M. Heโs comfy, confident, and โ100 percentโ dreaming of winning in his adopted home state. Too soonโฆ or right on time?
#SandersonFarms #PGATour #MichaelLaSasso #OleMiss #NCAAChamp #MastersInvite #3MOpen
Keywords: Michael La Sasso, NCAA champion, Masters invite, Ole Miss, 63 at 3M, PGA TOUR U, Antoine Rosner, Takumi Kanaya, hometown feel, sea urchin story
All right, good afternoon everybody. We’d like to welcome Michael Lasaso into the uh interview room here at the Sanderson Farms Championship. Uh Michael, it must be pretty exciting for you. You’re making your your sixth start on the PGA Tour, but your first here at the Sanderson Farms Championship in the state where you go to school. How excited are you to play this week? Yeah, it’s nice to drive down to a tournament in the car. I’ll say that for sure. Um yeah, this place has been great. Uh I’ve had a lot of people come up and talk to me uh about this before the week’s even started. So, there’s been a lot of support and um yeah, it’s nice kind of playing in the hometown. There’s a lot of people wearing Old Miss around here, which is definitely nice to see familiar faces. So, it’s it’s been great so far. What have you learned in the previous five starts you’ve made on the PGA Tour? I know you made the cut in the most recent one at the 3M Open. What have you learned that you can put into practice this week? Yeah, uh golf is hard for sure. Um but yeah, kind of just being able to experience these weeks. They’re definitely a little bit different than college golf. You know, you get there four days in advance instead of getting there about two days. So, kind of just learning. There’s a fine line between uh tiring yourself out and actually being prepared. So, kind of just trying to take that more into into work this week and um see what the week brings for sure. You’ve got um some former Rebels also in the field with you. I think there’s three others. Um what do you think the atmosphere is going to be like this week for for you and those guys? No, it’s great. when I heard uh one of my teammates from last year actually got in and we were talking about it actually last week he was up in Oxford uh and he was so pumped up to play so there’s a bunch of old miss guys in the field this week and uh it’s always nice kind of being around people that I see back at home um you know it’s I played a proam and I was with Braden actually earlier this morning so you know kind of just seeing a familiar face is it’s always nice. Has Braden been kind of a mentor for you? You’ve known for a long time haven’t you? Yeah, for sure. uh he’s been welcoming to all the guys on the team for sure. Uh you know, early kind of late last year, you know, I talked with him a bunch. So, kind of having that older mentor, uh and having the ability to actually reach out to a guy like that that’s been in my shoes, uh and knows how to handle it is, you know, it’s I’m fortunate to have that for sure. We have any questions? We’ll get you a mic. We’re gonna start with Mitchell. Michael, you’ve had some success this summer on tour, but how are you treating this fall in this final school year for you? number two in PJ tour. How are you staying present in college still, but looking forward to earning some tour starts or cornfair tour status next year? How are you treating all that this next school year for you? Yeah, it’s definitely exciting. Um, you know, kind of coming back to school, it’s it’s nice being in a team environment again. You know, having guys on the team that are rooting for you, you’re rooting for them. Um, the camaraderie is really great down there, especially at on the Old Miss team, for sure. So, you know, kind of just being grateful for what I have. I think that’s a big part of it. Um, you know, I can’t really ask for a much better team uh down there and, you know, being able to play all those events this summer and kind of being on the road for the first time by myself. You know, I I definitely cherish being around the GR guys a lot. So, kind of being able to really soak that all up this year. Um, knowing that I don’t really have much time left, but, you know, being able to, you know, have that ability to kind of be in the room with somebody and, you know, just have a good time. So Mikey, you shot 63 at 3M in the third round. What What do you remember about that round? And what sort of feelings, you know, did you have that might have been different from from other rounds on the PJ tour? Yeah, we were uh we were first off that day, so it was uh kind of an early morning. You know, it felt like you were just going to play a casual 18 with a buddy. Uh so we kind of just flew around the golf course and you know, it was kind of early. The greens were great and it was easy just to kind of get into your own rhythm. Uh, I think that was one of the big things is, you know, sometimes when you play out here, it’s easy to kind of get shaken up. You know, I’m not used to, you know, such big crowds following. Um, so just kind of being able to be comfortable out there was, you know, it made golf a lot easier. Um, you know, it’s it’s nice knowing that I’m able to do it for sure. Um, and that it’s not that far away. So, kind of learning that about myself is it’s definitely a confidence booster and, you know, kind of being able to do that in weeks later would be quite nice as well. So, winning. Oh, here we are. Tia, go ahead. Hi, Michael. Tia Reed, the Claren Ledger. Um, you being from North Carolina, what is it about your time at Old Miss and your short experience here this week that’s led you to call Mississippi kind of your hometown and refer to this as kind of playing at home? Yeah. No, it’s great. My parents are coming down this week, too. Um, which kind of gives it more of a a home feel for sure. You know, ever since I I went to school at Old Miss, it’s definitely uh a little bit of an adjustment. you know, I I went to school uh and lived really close to my parents. So, kind of being the first time um away from them, you know, was definitely different, but I I think it’s been great for me, you know, kind of being able to mature, know that uh your mom’s not going to fold your laundry for you. So, kind of like learning that, you know, you kind of got to take care of the other stuff off the golf course as well. Um and it’s been great. So, I I’m so thankful to be there. Uh yeah, and it’s been a blast for sure. Michael, you won the NCAA individual title, which has a lot of rewards with it. One of them is getting in the masters next year. What’s the anticipation like? I mean, I’m sure you think about it every day, every minute, but what’s that like knowing that you’re going to be in that event next year? Yeah. Uh, I’ve been pretty lucky to get around a bunch of people um that are members there, you know, and all of them are so supportive and ask whenever I want to go play. So, I’m definitely going to try and wear that out here uh once it opens up. But, you know, it’s it’s one of those things where those weeks fly by so quickly. Um, so to kind of being able to go down there early, uh, especially around people and just try and soak up that week as much as possible, you know, it’s kind of what I I’m hoping to do. Want to just shift gears here. I read in your bio that you stepped on a sea urchin urchin. I don’t know how you say that, but um, you got to walk us through that. No pun intended, but you got to tell us that story. Yeah. So, uh, we’re fortunate, uh, every year to go play at an event down in Cabo. Um, we’re staying at a very nice host house kind of up over by a golf course and they just opened up a beach club. Um, we had a couple guys going out to paddle board uh, after one of our rounds and yeah, kind of was just walking on the beach, unfortunate enough to step on it. Uh, and that led for a roller coaster of a week for sure. Um but yeah, no, it was kind of one of those things where, you know, if you can battle through that, you can kind of get through anything. Um so in the moment it was it was a little rough, but kind of taking uh the emotion out of it and kind of going after it like the week after and kind of realizing what I just did, you know, it it definitely kind of makes you realize like it’s a little bit bigger than golf. You know, there’s like the world comes at you pretty quickly. Um, and kind of being able to play through that and having people around that were supporting me kind of through that time, uh, was great. So, it was it was definitely an experience. What was that pain level like on a scale of 1 to 10? Oh, it was a 10. Probably 11, but I I’ll say 10. But, uh, I was fortunate enough to have somebody there that was able to take him out in a short short amount of time. So, perfect. Before we let you go, I just want to mention you’re you’re playing this week with two pretty accomplished international players, and I wondered if you’d met them. Um, Takumi Kaya from Japan and Antoine Rosna from France. Have you played with them? Do you know anything about them? And what do you anticipate out there with them this week? Yeah, I actually played with uh Antwine actually that Saturday at the 3:00 a.m. Um, and we kind of flew by. So, you’re kind of hoping he brings another good luck this week, but he was great. Um, I haven’t played with Tacumi, but uh I’ve heard great things about him. I’ve definitely seen him around uh restaurants, so you know, kind of being able to be around them this week is uh pretty cool. And yeah, Antwine’s great. Uh I like playing with him. Takumi actually just won like a week or two ago on Japan tour, and he’s also won on that tour. He’s an eight time winner. He won as an amer, which kind of brings me to you, you know, do you let yourself dream about winning this week? Oh, 100%. You know, I I think it uh it’s something that everybody wants to do. I know I think there’s a lot of amateurs out there that are able to do that actually now. you know, you saw it with Nick Dunlap. Um, and amateur golf is just getting so good. So, I mean, I definitely think it’s possible. You know, it’d be quite nice to do it in the home state for sure. Um, but yeah, I think that golf is kind of expanding and I definitely think it’s a possibility. Everybody have what they need? All right. Appreciate it. Yeah. Thank you so much. Good luck this week. We’ll go to the back of the room
