No La Sasso, no problem: Ole Miss defeats Florida for SEC men’s golf title

By Rick Cleveland | Originally published by Mississippi Today

When NCAA individual men’s golf champion Michael La Sasso left Ole Miss for the riches of the Saudi-backed LIV golf tour in January, it put a humongous dent in the Rebels’ championship hopes this spring season.

But Sunday, the irrepressible Rebels defeated the defending champion Florida Gators for the SEC Championship at Sea Island, Georgia, marking the first time an Ole Miss team has won the conference title since 1984.

Said Ole Miss coach Chris Malloy, a former Rebel golfer, of his team: “They’re tough. Everybody counted us out, but they are built for this event.”

Eleven of the top 25 ranked teams in college golf play in the SEC. To win the conference title, Ole Miss had to first qualify for match play, which they did by shooting 20-under-par over 54 holes to finish fourth in medal play and qualify for the eight-team match play championship.

Then, to win the championship, the 12th-ranked Rebels defeated No. 27 Texas A&M 4.5-0.5 in the quarterfinals Saturday morning, No. 1 Auburn 3-2 in the semifinals Saturday afternoon, and No. 3 Florida 3-0 in the Sunday morning finals televised on the SEC Network.

“It’s really sweet,” said Malloy, who is in his 12th season as Ole Miss men’s golf coach. “We’ve seen this program show it can do a lot of things like this. This group has seemed like a team of destiny.”

Ole Miss had been one of the favorites to win both the SEC and NCAA championships this spring before La Sasso decided to turn pro and join Phil Mickelson’s LIV team.

Said Malloy at the time: “It’s a blow and we’d be kidding ourselves if we said it wasn’t. I mean, we’re losing an NCAA champion and a first team All-American, but we’ve got three other All-Americans sitting in that locker room. We’ve still got firepower. We’ve still got a damned good team, and we’ve got some other guys in that locker room who will have a chance to step up and make a difference.” 

At Sea Island, every Rebel did step up, especially West Point junior Collins Trolio, who didn’t always make the traveling squad before La Sasso’s departure. Collins Trolio, younger brother of Ole Miss senior Cohen Trolio, won all three of his matches in the SEC Championship, most notably defeating Auburn’s Jackson Koivun in the semifinals. Collins Trolio chipped in for birdie on the 17th hole, to defeat Koivun, the world’s No. 1 ranked amateur golfer.

Ole Miss got strong performances all around: from seniors Cameron Tankersley, Cohen Trolio and Tom Fisher and from Swedish freshman Daniel Tolf.

Said Florida coach J.C. Deacon, “Ole Miss just played better. They lost a superstar in the fall, and what coach Chris Malloy has done with that program this year to keep them going and for them to beat us today, they had to play really well, so hats off. You can’t take a day off in this conference.”

Malloy said of his players, “They’ve had me on their butts. They haven’t been my biggest fans, but it’s for moments like this.”

Ole Miss now turns its sights to the NCAA Tournament, which will begin May 18 at regional sites to be determined.

Said Malloy,”Don’t let the Rebels get hot.”

As if they aren’t already.

This article was originally published by Mississippi Today and is republished here under a Creative Commons license.

Source: Original Article