Malloy's Mission: Ole Miss golf's build and potential as regionals arrive

WEST POINT | The ball obliterated the bird.

Chris Malloy, feet up and focused on what’s been accomplished and what’s left to be done, discussed the 10-year build to this season, and seasons ahead, while marking the next day’s pin locations in his yardage book. He was sitting at the dining table inside a condo a short pitch from the 10th fairway at Old Waverly Golf Club, the site of the 1999 US Women’s Open.

Ole Miss was in West Point, Mississippi, for the Mossy Oak Collegiate at Mossy Oak Golf Club, Old Waverly’s sister course. The Ole Miss coach, behind the strength of three or four sophomores — depending on the tournament — and only one junior and one senior, had the Rebels fifth in the country going into the season’s final regular season event.

“They are good now, and you want to make the most of that, but you know how good they are going to be in the future, too,” Malloy said about his young team. “They are a talented group, and you just want them to handle it.”

Two days later the Rebels would finish second at Mossy Oak to No. 2 Auburn to cap the best regular season in school history.

On Monday, Ole Miss starts play in the NCAA Stanford Regional as the No. 2 seed in the 13-team field. It’s the highest seed ever for the program, as five teams advance from the 54-hole event to the national championship.

It’s the first time the Rebels have been to the Palo Alto course since the 2019 Regional, and why the bird conversation was a bit of a premonition that night.

Five years ago, during the final round of the regional, Ole Miss had a four-shot lead to advance to the national championship when Sarut Vongchaisit hit his drive seemingly down the fairway of a blind tee shot on the seventh hole of the course, a par five.

A spotter saw the ball bounce in the fairway, but no one could find it. Instead of in position to go for the green in two, Vongchaisit had to re-tee, hitting his now third shot into the same general location as where his first shot should have been.

Then, as he’s trying to minimize damage, his third swing sends the ball into the air and straight into a bird… feathers, poof, think Randy Johnson hitting the bird with the baseball that time.

“Did anyone see the ball?” Malloy remembers asking at the time.

Vonchaisit made a nine on the hole. Ole Miss missed qualifying for nationals by one shot. Then, on the flight home, a passenger vomited on Vonchaisit. It was that kind of luck.

A year prior, in Bryan, Texas, Ole Miss took a 10-shot lead on Kentucky for the final qualifying spot into the final round of regional play but lost by three shots when one of the Rebels shot 43 on the back nine and Kentucky’s Tyler McDaniel shot 31 on his back nine including a hole-out eagle from 118 yards on the final hole.

It’s what Malloy meant by handling it. One round, one hole, one wave of momentum can make or end a season. The goal is to put everything in position and then rely on the work to translate in those key rounds and moments. College golf is unpredictable, but you can be certain of the preparation.

Ole Miss, in its last event before traveling to Stanford, finished ninth at the SEC Tournament because three players picked up stomach viruses. The sickness dropped Ole Miss to No. 7 nationally and from a one seed to a two seed for regional play.

Malloy missed his team’s first tee time because he was accompanying team ace Michael La Sasso, who has been ranked as high as No. 2 nationally this season, to the emergency room.

With such a young team, Malloy has watched them grow up but is aware there’s much more talent to appear. There’s an urgency to maximize.

“You take the good with the bad,” Malloy said. “They can be great, and you have to learn it. You have to get there, and that takes time. They are good now though. You don't want to focus on tomorrow. Be great today. Go win today."

Malloy was a captain for the Rebels as a player, and his teams made regional play in 1999 and 2000, finishing 24th nationally in 1999. He was an assistant coach at Florida State and then the head coach at South Florida, where he earned Big East Coach of the Year, before returning to Oxford.

Ole Miss made a regional in his first year as coach after a four-year absence, and the Rebels are currently on a seven-year streak of postseason play.

Ole Miss has made the NCAA Championships twice under Malloy, including a 14th place finish in 2022. Ole Miss’ last berth, prior to his tenure, was 2001. Braden Thornberry won the national title as an individual in 2017. Nine of the program’s 10 best tournament scores have come under Malloy.

The rise of this current roster came from Malloy’s honesty and the players believing in his pitch to challenge them and love them and be real with them. He’s upfront during recruitments that transparent honesty is the rule.

“You have to grow up here, and it’s not for everybody, but it makes you better,” said Cameron Tankersley, who was previously committed to Lipscomb and chose Ole Miss over offers from Texas, Oklahoma State, Pepperdine and Louisville.

“You don’t have to wonder. He tells you what’s up. When he pats you on the back, you know he means that, too. He can get laid back and he’s great at dinners where you can relax and reset for the next day.”

Tankersley shot 62 to qualify for a Korn Ferry event in 2021. He also made the cut. He has a 70.52 stroke average in 2023-2024.

In Tankersley’s class, Ole Miss held off Alabama for Birmingham native Tom Fischer and signed Patton Samuels from Clarksville, Tennessee. Samuels has competed in all nine tournaments this season. Fischer has four top-20 individual finishes this season.

Junior Kye Meeks is from Walnut, Mississippi, and has the Rebels’ fourth-best stroke average for the season.

Malloy signed Tim Tillmans, who was Kansas State’s best player a year ago, during the offseason. It’s three straight seasons Ole Miss used the transfer portal for a starting piece.

The catalyst for this potentially premature jump into national prominence came with La Sasso’s emergence.

In December 2023, La Sasso and Tankersley were in the South Beach International Amateur, when La Sasso, who is a Raleigh, North Carolina, native and was at NC State, casually asked if the Rebels might have a spot in the future.

“We played together in final round, and it was in my head at the time," La Sasso said. "I wasn’t too happy at NC State. I started playing better and better that spring and knew an SEC school was where I wanted to go.”

Tankersley said: “You saw his game and knew every team would have a spot for that. I knew his personalty would fit in with us, too.”

Ole Miss called La Sasso once he entered the portal, and Oxford was his first visit. He didn’t take another trip, canceling a visit to Knoxville.

“I came with my dad and went around Oxford in the summer and, there were no students, but I vividly remember thinking there isn’t a better spot for me. I knew I could move down here tomorrow and be perfectly happy. I had plenty of other options, but Oxford is where I want to be.”

He committed soon after, giving Ole Miss one of the nation’s best golfers and a golfer with three years of eligibility.

Malloy’s approach was the key factor with the golf side of La Sasso’s recruitment.

“What I like is he shoots it straight,” La Sasso said. “It was all sugar coating at NC State. He is pretty serious, and that’s what I love about him. The way he thinks through things and learning a mindset that’s a winner’s mindset. He’s a good guy who just wants us to be our best. Our best is what’s good enough.”

La Sasso has finished in the top 20 in every event this season and the top 15 in all but one. He has five top-3 finishes including second place at the Cabo Collegiate, arguably the toughest field in college golf.

Ole Miss has four second-place finishes this season, a fifth in Cabo that somewhat announced its arrival as a national contender and then a win at the Seminole Intercollegiate, beating second place Florida State on its home course by five shots.

LaSasso is easy to spot on the course because of his shorts that he calls aggressively short. The tailor took a little too much off the length, but after the first event of the season, he just went with it since he played well. All his shorts are now that length.

“I was embarrassed at first but now I kind of like it,” La Sasso said. “It’s actually more surprising if my playing partners don’t say something about the shorts on the first tee. I wonder if something is wrong with them if they don’t say something.”

Assistant coach Emerson Newsome, who is in his first season with Ole Miss after a season at Washington, usually walks with La Sasso during rounds. Newsome caddied for La Sasso at the United States Amateur right after taking the job, and they hit it off. La Sasso made the match play, and they’ve been walking and talking ever since then.

“Obviously we need Mike to play well for us to be where we want to be, but he loves talking,” Newsome said. “He can talk to me, and I can redirect him at times. When he gets quiet is when you check on him.”

Malloy casually mentioned that night at Waverly that La Sasso might be the best fairway wood player he’s ever coached. That list includes Brooks Koepka, the five-time Major winner Malloy coached at Florida State.

In the final round at Mossy Oak, La Sasso was seven under through seven holes, including an eagle on the 615-yard par-five seventh. He hit a three wood and immediately reacted like he didn’t catch it cleanly.

“Go,” La Sasso whispered with the ball in the air. It hit, took a big hop and made it to the green. He was in the hole a shot later.

Malloy promised himself he would rebuild the program the right way, taking the patient approach a decade ago. It’s a difficult job and one he loves. Ole Miss men’s golf may be the only SEC sports team that doesn’t host a game or event during a particular roster’s career.

The 4.5 scholarships for a nine-person team don't get supplemented by “lottery” money like many other SEC states. The university keeps the Ole Miss Golf Course in excellent shape, but the layout has severe limitations for elite men’s golf. The Country Club of Oxford is a home course, but it’s not a layout for tournament walking play.

Despite those things, Ole Miss continues to maximize the sport thanks to Malloy and those around the program. Having a women’s program equally committed is also of great benefit. The Ole Miss women’s team won the 2021 national championship, and Malloy and women’s head coach Kory Henkes work together to elevate the program’s shared resources. The women are in the national championships after winning their regional.

The Tosh Family Short Course is one of the best practice facilities in the country and stands alone when it comes to its practice options as well as the lights and music amenities that add to the perks. More renovations to the facility are coming soon, as well.

The players are the best ambassadors. The program develops them well, mentally and physically, and the results are tangible.

La Sasso sat in the courtyard at Old Waverly after the first day of the Mossy Oak Collegiate and kept thinking about the present and the future simultaneously. He can’t help but consider the Rebels’ core group when they are juniors and seniors. The possibilities that are there.

But, almost like Malloy is the voice in his head, he ends the thoughts back in the present. What’s possible now.

“It’s so rare to have a team that’s so young,” La Sasso said. “Having the potential to have junior year and senior year, that’s what you say with Florida who won the title last year. We’re learning and developing. It’s going to take off.

“We have the potential to be great. It’s in the cards. The chips need to fall, but we believe in it. It’s in the future, but it’s now, too.”