October 8, 2024 • by Dan Davies / Wyatt Ebersole / Photography: Back of the Range / Jeff Myers Notre Dame Athletics / SMU / GoShockersMGLF
Hamptons Collegiate... Fighting Irish Classic... Trinity Forest Invitational... Grier Jones Shocker Challenge
Mississippi’s impressive fall season (runners up at the Visit Knoxville Collegiate and Valero Texas Collegiate) continued with victory in the Hamptons Intercollegiate at the historic Maidstone Club on Long Island. Chris Malloy’s team finished on 26 under par, a full 20 shots ahead of Florida State.
Last season, the Rebels won the Seminole Intercollegiate and recorded seven top-five finishes before their season ended at regionals. They appear to have used the experience as fuel; in a field that featured three teams that did make it through to La Costa (Florida State, Virginia and Wake Forest), Ole Miss started fast and then disappeared over the horizon.
Michael La Sasso opened with a 68 (-4) to help build a 10-shot lead after round one. He began his second round with a bogey on the 10th before playing holes 13 to 18 in six under par to be four clear of teammates Cameron Tankersley and Kye Meeks when bad light brought proceedings to a close.
Coach Malloy was impressed with how his players adjusted to the wet and windy conditions. Day one saw the average score nudge 78 but the Rebels emerge with a commanding 21-shot lead. ‘We didn’t do a very good job handling the rain and wind right out of the gates,’ Malloy told the Ole Miss website. ‘However, they really rallied and played great the rest of the day.’
La Sasso arrived in East Hampton with a 4th at Visit Knoxville and T11 at Valero Texas under his belt. Returning to finish his second round on Tuesday morning, he added three more birdies to sign for a 64 (-8), good enough for a nine-shot lead.
Virginia and Florida State both tried to narrow the gap in the final round without ever threatening to catch Ole Miss. The Cavaliers won this event in 2021 and 2022 but were pipped to second place by the Seminoles, who were indebted to Gray Albright’s back nine of 31 (-5), which included back-to-back eagles.
Four Ole Miss players finished in the top four, led by La Sasso (-15) who feasted on Maidstone’s four par-5s. He played them in a combined 13 under par, averaging 3.92.
Photographs: The Back of the Range
Notre Dame won its home event for the first time since 2019, finishing on seven under par at Warren GC in South Bend, 11 shots ahead of nearest rivals Purdue and 12 ahead of Louisville in third.
‘We have a team of fierce competitors who embrace pressure,’ Head Coach John Handrigan told the Notre Dame website after his team’s win in the recent Canadian Collegiate Invitational.
In the individual tournament, Matteo Cristoni of Little Rock led after 36 holes but was overtaken halfway through the third round by Sebastian Moss of Louisville (below).
Easton Johnson (Louisville), Omar Morales (UCLA) and Rocco Salvitti and Jacob Modleski (both Notre Dame) each threatened but Moss had the luxury of bogeying the 18th and still holding off Cristoni by a shot. It was his third individual title, coming after the back-to-back wins he earned last fall.
Three Notre Dame players finished in the top-12 — Salvitti (3rd), Nate Stevens (T5) and Modleski (11th), while Christopher Bagnall made a significant final-day contribution, firing a closing 69 after starting at 10 over par.
Noah Kent (Iowa), who was runner-up in the US Amateur Championship to ASU’s Josele Ballester, added a T5 to a pair of 13th place finishes in his first two events of the season.
Photographs: Jeff Myers / Notre Dame Athletics
Three teams went deep into the red in pursuit of victory at Trinity Forest Golf Club in Dallas. UNLV led at -26 thru 36 holes but SMU (-23) and Loyola Marymount (-19) were both within striking distance.
The final round promised a shootout and with a few holes to play, just two shots separated the three teams. Loyola Marymount went low and got to 32 under par, SMU finished strongly, but UNLV (above) had time and holes on its side.
Caden Fioroni and Wyatt Plattner made the decisive move, both nailing eagles on the par-5 16th. When Trevor Lewis and Zach Little added further birdies, the Rebels were as good as home.
Playing together in the final group, Little and Zachary Kingsland of SMU (above) dueled all the way in. The difference proved to be the 12 birdies the Mustangs junior made on the second nine across three rounds. They gave him a one-shot winning margin and a first college victory.
Two late birdies by Wichita State’s Jose Miguel Ramirez and a late double bogey by one of the top players in the field handed the Shockers the team trophy at the third annual Grier Jones Shocker Invitational.
The Shockers finished even par at Sand Creek Station Golf Course, besting second place Incarnate Word by four strokes. Xavier freshman Kellen Dean won the individual title with a score of 209, edging out Oklahoma State’s Johnnie Clark by one stroke.
For the third year in a row in its home tournament, Wichita State put together a strong rally late in the third round to take the spoils. This time it was sparked by Ramirez and Mitchell Revie, who both finished even par (T11) for the tournament. It was Ramirez who came up clutch with birdies on his final two holes to push the Shockers over the line.