Michael La Sasso Overcomes Early Struggles To Win NCAA Division I Men's Individual Championship

With one day of strokeplay remaining in the NCAA Division I Men's Individual Championship, the University of Mississippi’s Michael La Sasso held a two-shot lead in the individual event.

Immediately beneath him on the leaderboard at Omni La Costa Resort & Spa in California was Texas A&M’s Phichaksn Maichon, while Arizona State’s Connor Williams was five back of La Sasso on six-under.

That left former NC State star La Sasso just 18 holes away from taking his career to another level, which includes starts at the 2026 Masters and US Open, as long as he remains an amateur.

However, it also left Ole Miss tantalizingly close to having just its second individual men’s winner of the event after Braden Thornberry in 2017. As for Maichon, he was hoping to become Texas A&M’s first-ever winner of the individual event.

Maichon began his round earlier than La Sasso, and quickly drew level at the top, but the overnight leader didn’t waste time getting out of the blocks, either, with a birdie on his first hole, the par-5 10^th, to move to 12-under for the tournament. One hole later, that became 13-under as he reclaimed control.

However, two holes later, La Sasso suffered his first setback of the day with a bogey. It then got even worse on his sixth with a double-bogey, which once again allowed Maichon to get his nose in front. At that point, he was heading to the turn, still two under for the day after his quickfire brace of birdies at the start.

La Sasso hit back immediately with his third birdie of the day on his seventh as both players co-led at 11-under. Meanwhile, there was now a four-shot gap between them and Connor Williams in third. Soon, that was back to two as La Sasso’s mixed start continued with his second double bogey in three holes, leaving Maichon with the solo lead.

His two-shot advantage became one with his first bogey of the day on his 14^th, and the pair were back level after a second successive bogey for Maichon. Now, they were both back to nine-under with Auburn’s Jackson Koivun, who would earn a PGA Tour card with victory, lurking just two behind.

While the competition was intense, La Sasso held his nerve, edging back in front with his third birdie of the day on his 13^th, and it would have been better but for a birdie putt that narrowly missed on the next hole. Not to be denied, his lead did become two with a birdie on his 15^th shortly after Maichon finished on nine-under for the tournament.

With three left to play, and Koivun four behind, it was surely La Sasso’s to lose. He didn’t make it easy for himself, going way over the green with his approach on the seventh (his 16^th). His third onto the green was nicely judged, though, and his putt for par was just as well executed as he held onto his advantage. He then finished with successive pars for a round of 72 and college golf's most prestigious honor.

As for Koivun, his PGA Tour card will come when he competes in the Arnold Palmer Cup next month, where he will earn the crucial 20^th point he needs via the PGA Tour Accelerated program.

It was a double celebration for La Sasso as Ole Miss clinched the last place in the quarter finals of the team championship along with Arizona State, defending champions Auburn, the University of Florida, the University of Oklahoma, Oklahoma State, the University of Texas and Virginia.

The quarterfinals of the match play contest will take place on Tuesday with the semifinals and final on conducted on Wednesday.