LIV Golf has signed another character in Michael La Sasso.
If you believe comments and whispers you read online, if they are worth anything at all, the impression you take is that the young star from Ole Miss splits opinion, to say the least.
One tale I’ve seen reported in a couple of quarters concerns the 21-year-old’s antics at the Walker Cup at Cypress Point last year, where he represented Team USA in a resounding victory over GB&I.
In one of his matches, La Sasso allegedly did that thing where he laid his putter on the green, extending from the hole, and complained about not being given a short putt.
Ironically, antics like this are celebrated at the Ryder Cup, the peak of the professional game where the adults are meant to be in the room. But not at the Walker Cup, an event embedded in the amateur sphere of integrity, and not welcomed either by the R&A official who is said to have reprimanded La Sasso for his behaviour.
Still, I doubt the R&A figure used words that some people use online about this smiley, confident and bulky prospect who has gone viral on several occasions, with a swing that is as powerful and flexible as it is difficult to watch.
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It is no surprise that La Sasso has signed for the LIV team captained by Phil Mickelson, a six-time major-winning legend of the game, but also an extremely polarising figure throughout his near 40-year career, who some would argue tarnished his legacy completely with his role in launching the Saudi-funded league.
This pair will have some fun in 2026, and it is also a great signing for LIV. If you can’t attract big names, the next best thing is to recruit youth and exciting upcomers. La Sasso is the reigning NCAA individual champion and was in his senior year at the University of Missouri, where he was majoring in Integrated Marketing Communications.
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He was born on March 25, 2004 (sigh), and is the son of Mike and Karla. He attended Saint David’s School in Raleigh, North Carolina, and in 2025, he became just the second-ever NCAA individual national champion in his university programme’s history.
The big headline of La Sasso’s move, though, is that he has now forfeited his invitation to the Masters and the US Open. As the NCAA individual champion of 2025, he earned a spot in both of these majors, but you must keep amateur status to be eligible.
This can’t have been an easy decision for La Sasso, who you would imagine weighed this up with family, friends and probably Mickelson, who has won three times at Augusta National. There is no doubt that La Sasso was offered plenty of money, and with 14 guaranteed LIV starts this year, he will earn a hell of a lot more.
He has chosen money over Magnolia Lane, you might say. This is certainly the debate currently raging online, a What-would-you-do-type thing. If we are honest though, it has been further amplified because it is LIV whom he has chosen. It’s ‘that Saudi thing’ he’s chosen, where all the ‘money-grabbers’ go.
But there is plenty of precedent for this. Many amateurs have turned down major starts to turn professional. They believe they’ll get there one day and back their own ability. But frankly, the tour they choose to turn professional on is entirely irrelevant.
Jacob Skov Olesen won the Amateur Championship in 2024 at Ballyliffin, and earned a spot in the Masters for 2025. 25 at the time, the young Dane gave up his amateur status when he earned a DP World Tour card through Q-school later that year. He lost his spot at Augusta and also at the US Open.
“Having a good start to the season here on the DP World Tour made it a little easier to watch from the sidelines because that kind of proved that I made the right decision. Of course I wanted to be there, but it wasn’t meant to be this time.”
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I might be wrong, but I don’t remember this decision being met with the same outrage around La Sasso.
Wenyi Ding won the Asia-Pacific Amateur at Taiheiyo Club Gotemba in Fuji, Japan in 2024, stamping his ticket for the Masters and The Open in 2025. But he knew, regardless of his performance that week, that he would turn professional soon after.
He was set to earn a DP World Tour card via the Global Amateur Pathway, an initiative that gives the best non-collegiate male amateur a chance on the European circuit.
He left Arizona State, came top of the rankings above Skov Olesen, got his card, then turned professional. He gave up his major starts in pursuit of a pro career where you can earn money, just like La Sasso.
“It was difficult, but I can’t sacrifice (DP World Tour status) to wait for the Masters,” Ding told Golf Digest. “I know it’s a great (opportunity) for an amateur player, but I’m going to turn pro. (Hopefully), I can get in (those two majors) by myself.”
You’re allowed to think that turning down major spots is wrong. The chance to play in them might never come again. But we mustn’t treat one player differently from another, based on which tour they choose, and based on which tour you might like more than another.
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Signing for LIV does restrict routes to the majors, though. That much is fact, because LIV events still don’t qualify for Official World Golf Ranking points (OWGR). For as long as La Sasso is with LIV, he can’t climb the pro world rankings, which closes an avenue to the big four events.
Nonetheless, he has made the call that countless amateurs have made before him. It should come as no shock at all. They have committed to a career and thought in the long term, and ignored the starry-eyed, short-term lure of the majors.
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What do you make of this move by Michael La Sasso? Do you think he should’ve stayed an amateur? Do you think Michael La Sasso would be better off on the PGA Tour? Tell us on X!
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