Photo courtesy: Petre Thomas/Ole Miss Athletics.
In its second tournament of the fall season, Ole Miss Men’s Golf hit the road to Birmingham, Ala. and played at the Birmingham Country Club for the annual SEC Fall Preview.
The tournament brought together all 14 SEC teams in three full days of play. Day one started with 36 strokes of play, followed by 18 holes on day two. The final day of the tournament was a one-team match play to wrap up the tournament; Ole Miss matched up with Arkansas during this.
Standouts for the Rebels include sophomore Michael La Sasso, who finished in 11th place, shooting 13 birdies throughout 54 holes and sophomore Cameron Tankersly, who recorded 15 birdies, a season high, putting him at a 15th place finish. This marked Tankersly’s eighth and La Sasso’s fourth career top-20 finish. To go along with La Sasso and Tankersly, sophomore Tom Fischer secured three birdies.
After day one and two of the tournament, Ole Miss Men’s Golf placed fourth overall and recorded a score that ties for second–lowest in program history: The team ended with a total score of 828. This marks the second tournament in a row that the Rebels earned a 24-under-par final score. The team recorded 59 birdies throughout 54 holes at the Birmingham Country Club.
Wrapping up the tournament after an impressive two days of the tournament, Ole Miss faced Arkansas in the final day of play, which consisted of one 18-hole match. Falling just short to the Razorbacks in a close 3-2 ending, La Sasso and sophomore Patton Samuels came out on top in their matches, while Fischer missed a close one in a 19-hole tiebreaker match.
Despite the last day defeat in match play, the Rebels finished fourth place overall among the 14 SEC teams — a comfortable place for the team to end up in. This placed the Rebels just below Auburn, Vanderbilt and Arkansas.
On the docket for Ole Miss Men’s Golf is a trip down South to Biloxi, Miss., for the Fallen Oak Collegiate Invitational at Fallen Oak Course that will run from Oct. 15 to Oct. 17.
