Earlier this week, LIV’s HyFlyers team announced the signing of the 2025 NCAA individual champion, Michael La Sasso of Ole Miss.
He is not the first young kid they’ve signed—it’s been one of LIV’s better strategies to look for emerging talent in the college ranks—but this is a notable signing for LIV. In addition to winning the NCAA title, La Sasso reached No. 3 in the World Amateur Golf Ranking and had a couple of other college victories in his All-American career for the Rebels.
He’s a good player and has a high ceiling.
The owner of a funky swing, La Sasso decided to take the money on LIV with a multi-year deal.
The trade-off? He is forgoing his Masters spot which he earned with the NCAA title. You have to remain an amateur to take advantage of that opportunity.
Not for nothing, the 21-year-old from Raleigh, N.C., is also leaving his college team in the middle of the season to take this opportunity, which I’m sure is a tough thing for him to do.
Personally, I hate this. I understand it, but I hate it.
It’s insane to me that kids are turning down their Masters spot—and potentially all future major appearances—just to cash in for the short term.
This is where we’re at in pro golf (and sports in general)
Having said that, of course I understand the reasoning here.
La Sasso is no sure thing. He had six PGA Tour starts this past year and was pretty mediocre in all of them, although that’s common for a young kid making his ways into the pros.
Now he gets a guaranteed paycheck with guaranteed starts and virtually no pressure at all.
The worst-case scenario is his back gives out this year and he will at least have already made some meaningful money. If that happens while going down the traditional path, you are left with nothing.
But what upsets me is that this is such a short-sighted decision and we are seeing more kids take this route without fully thinking it through.
For one, it’s more likely than not that La Sasso is never going to play in another major in his life, let alone the Masters. He’ll probably be in exile on LIV where there are no world golf ranking points and the slimmest of pathways to reach the majors.
Being an amateur at the Masters is a lifelong memory. Many call it one of the most special weeks of their life. Once you give it up, you can never go back (and, it should be noted, a good week at the Masters as an amateur is highly profitable despite the lack of a paycheck).
There is something even deeper I want to get at here, though.
What do we value now?
Yeah, La Sasso can make his $20 million or whatever he’ll get playing exhibition golf. Other former college stars have done the same with LIV and nobody cares about who they are now.
Remember Matthew Wolff? He was once in the same sentence as Collin Morikawa and Viktor Hovland. Now I am Googling to see if he still plays professional golf (he does, on LIV, apparently).
Your retort will be that Wolff is well compensated for his irrelevancy. OK, cool. He worked his entire life to reach this point and all he wants out of his career is to make a quick buck and wither away in the shadows? No pressure? Not a single meaningful golf shot for the rest of his life?
Where is the passion to go prove yourself? Where is the passion to go compete? To measure yourself against the best in the world?
This is not a golf-specific problem. Has the pro sports world devolved into such a late-stage capitalism, dystopian hellhole that the only thing athletes care about is cashing in? It often feels that way.
Chris Gotterup went and competed. He has won three times on Tour and his profile is skyrocketing. He’s made more than $8 million on the course and he’s setting himself up for a hell of a lot more off the course because he’s becoming a household name.
And Gotterup is going to be a fixture at the majors. Everyone wants to know whether he’ll be able to compete there (in time, I bet he will).
And if he wins a major? That is putting your name down in history. Creating a real legacy.
If Gotterup had signed with LIV coming out of school, it’s possible none of this would be happening. He wouldn’t be playing in majors or building his pathway to becoming a world-class golfer.
A couple of years from now when La Sasso has done nothing of note and golf fans forget his existence, he’ll either be clinging to his LIV spot, relegated to a smaller tour or out of professional golf completely.
He’ll be plenty rich based on his fleeting college glory days—but will he regret driving down Magnolia Lane, competing in majors and playing actual tournament golf for the rest of his life?
One1
5 months ago
Sean, it doesn’t look like you are very in touch with your MGS readers.