Reusse: Low scores at 3M Open start bright and early, beginning with weekend’s lone amateur

Michael La Sasso started his college golf career at his hometown school, North Carolina State. He played for the Wolfpack as a freshman and then decided to leave the familiar confines of Raleigh and transferred to Mississippi for the 2023-24 season.

And from what La Sasso had to say about the options available for a Rebels athlete wanting to kick it around on a non-competitive day, it had the sound of golfer’s heaven.

The Ole Miss Golf Course is located a few miles off campus. It opened in 1973 with a design by Dr. Cary Middlecoff. He was the golfing legend of the 1940s and ’50s who gave up the pursuit of dentistry to win a Masters, two U.S. Opens and 40 total pro tournaments.

There is also the Country Club of Oxford, reopened in 1949 after the military used the land during World War II. And down the road in West Point, Miss., is the Old Waverly complex, with a golf course that has played host to a U.S. Women’s Open.

“We can play those courses, and then we have Memphis right around the corner,” La Sasso said. “We have a lot of great places to play.”

There are also fall and spring schedules filled with adventures, including what has been an annual trip in early March to the Cabo Collegiate in Mexico.

“Cabo is a very nice place to play golf,” La Sasso said Saturday. “I’m very grateful we get to play in that event every year, I still think the memories this time were pretty good.”

Look it up. The spines on these little creatures are described as “exceptionally long.”

A trip to the hospital and much digging into the foot was required to remove said spines.

Ouch!

“It wasn’t that bad,” he said. “And it was tournament where you could use a cart, so I was able to compete.”

La Sasso was reminded of the extra-prickly sea urchin late Saturday morning, as the latest college star to make an impact at the 3M Open. The PGA Tour University program has allowed a number of college players into tour events, with the possibility of direct access to playing status when turning pro.

A couple of weeks later, La Sasso was in the U.S. Open at brutal Oakmont, Pa., and missed the cut. He also missed the cut at three PGA Tour events: the Rocket Classic, the John Deere Classic and the Barracuda Championship.

La Sasso definitely hadn’t shown the pros his game this summer, and he was close to going home after 36 holes again this week in Blaine. He was finishing on the ninth hole Friday, held on for a bogey and made the cut on number: 5 under.

On Saturday, the 76 players that made the cut teed off in twosomes from the first tee at TPC Twin Cities. There were 75 pros and one amateur, La Sasso. He was in the first group with Antoine Rozner. And the tee time was 6:25 a.m.

Was this a first — being the leadoff man in a tournament?

“I think so,” La Sasso said. “It was the earliest tee time I’ve ever had. My alarm clock went off nice and early.”

TPC Twin Cities started off soggy and with only a trace of wind and it has been surrendering incredibly low numbers for three rounds — and many of those strangers to many golf watchers.

That continued through Saturday afternoon, with Kurt Kitayama putting up the second 11-under 60 of the week. La Sasso also took advantage: an 8-under 63.

“It’s nice and calm in the morning and you really can get into a groove,” he said. “You can find your rhythm quickly. … I feel like it was a bit more normal with my play today. I’ve been struggling a bit this summer.

“And I’ve had three caddies in the last week. I really like the guy I have now. I feel like it just started to click for us.”

Name that caddie, please. “Dynamite,” La Sasso said. “That’s what everyone calls him. Dynamite. He usually has been with Patton Kizzire, but it was kind of an off week. We’ve had a good time so far.”

“I’ve been taking away as much as I can from being around these guys this summer, because hopefully I’ll be here with them full time in a year or two,” La Sasso said.