- My Forums
- Tiger Rant
- LSU Recruiting
- SEC Rant
- Saints Talk
- Pelicans Talk
- More Sports Board
- Winter Olympics
- Fantasy Sports
- Golf Board
- Soccer Board
- O-T Lounge
- Tech Board
- Home/Garden Board
- Outdoor Board
- Health/Fitness Board
- Movie/TV Board
- Book Board
- Music Board
- Political Talk
- Money Talk
- Fark Board
- Gaming Board
- Travel Board
- Food/Drink Board
- Ticket Exchange
- TD Help Board
Customize My Forums- View All Forums
- Show Left Links
- Topic Sort Options
- Trending Topics
- Recent Topics
- Active Topics
Started By
Message
Reigning NCAA champion Michael La Sasso foregoing senior year at Ole Miss and joining LIV
Posted on 1/20/26 at 9:52 am
Posted on 1/20/26 at 9:52 am
Will also lose Masters exemption for this year.
Loading Twitter/X Embed...
If tweet fails to load, click here.
3
Posted on 1/20/26 at 9:58 am to The Pirate King
Nice pull for Phil after missing out on Akshay Bhatia. Must’ve been a lot of money
This will be the 3rd time he’s gone the “young” player route. James Piot in 2023 & Andy Ogletree the last 2 years (& Akshay is only 23)
This will be the 3rd time he’s gone the “young” player route. James Piot in 2023 & Andy Ogletree the last 2 years (& Akshay is only 23)
This post was edited on 1/20/26 at 11:05 am
Posted on 1/20/26 at 10:05 am to JimTiger72
Without a fight, what is LIVs goal with this signing?
Bryson is the most popular figure in the social media world right now for golf and he even doesn’t draw eyeballs to LIV events. What would giving La Sasso a ton of money do?
It seems to me, LIV should forget trying to care about spending a ton of money on players and competing with the PGA tour and just try and become a secondary type tour in the European market
They got some big guys and it just didn’t work out. Adapt and move on
Bryson is the most popular figure in the social media world right now for golf and he even doesn’t draw eyeballs to LIV events. What would giving La Sasso a ton of money do?
It seems to me, LIV should forget trying to care about spending a ton of money on players and competing with the PGA tour and just try and become a secondary type tour in the European market
They got some big guys and it just didn’t work out. Adapt and move on
Posted on 1/20/26 at 10:24 am to lsupride87
Can you two just text each other?
Posted on 1/20/26 at 10:30 am to The Pirate King
Seems kind of fitting. It seems like he fits in with the black hats sort of vibe LIV had when they were getting guys a few years ago.
Posted on 1/20/26 at 12:13 pm to lsupride87
It seems like they’re pivoting to young guys who don’t have full tour status. Guaranteed easy money instead of having to work your way up through the tour ranks. These guys weren’t granted equity in the tour already so they aren’t forfeiting money. Young guys don’t have families and aren’t used to the flexibility of the pga tour yet so they don’t mind LIVs absurd travel schedule and rigid commitments as much.
Which to be fair is better than the old guys who barely have tour status. At least here they can hope to get lucky and have one of Puig, Ballesero, McKibbin, Le Sasso go on a heater and do something in a major.
The issue though is LIV will not make anyone a star and your major access is severely limited.
Which to be fair is better than the old guys who barely have tour status. At least here they can hope to get lucky and have one of Puig, Ballesero, McKibbin, Le Sasso go on a heater and do something in a major.
The issue though is LIV will not make anyone a star and your major access is severely limited.
This post was edited on 1/20/26 at 12:17 pm
Posted on 1/20/26 at 12:42 pm to JimTiger72
Will BDS sponsorship continue?
Posted on 1/20/26 at 1:19 pm to Bawpaw
Dropping a masters exemption for a league they may not exist in two years is wild.
Posted on 1/20/26 at 1:28 pm to jimjackandjose
Can't say I understand this move from the player or expected the move from LIV. It doesn't appear as if LIV has continued offering crazy deals to incoming players anymore, certainly not college golfers, and maybe it's just me, but it would take a pretty damn good offer to sign a deal that would pull my name from a Masters exemption. Honestly curious what his price was to do that.
Posted on 1/20/26 at 1:30 pm to jimjackandjose
quote:
Dropping a masters exemption for a league they may not exist in two years is wild.
That's pretty wild to me too. Figured he'd take the Ballesteros route of playing the Masters first then hopping to LIV. They must have offered him a nice sum and a path to qualify another way.
Posted on 1/20/26 at 1:32 pm to The Pirate King
If they offered him 20 million or more, that’s so hard to bet on yourself at this point and not take it
But my question moreso would be on LIVs end of why offer that
But my question moreso would be on LIVs end of why offer that
This post was edited on 1/20/26 at 1:47 pm
Posted on 1/20/26 at 1:45 pm to lsupride87
I think mainly they can’t get anyone else. I mean they’ve tried the last two years to woo the mid-tier established pga guys and have come up empty handed outside of hardcore leveraging personal relationships/country loyalty for Detry and An (barely even mid-tier guys).
They’re also clearly banking on some of these young guys becoming elite players and helping some of the competitiveness concerns (which in turn would more pressure on the majors and OWGR to let more LIV guys in).
The issue is the young guys basically have to win a major or consistently top ten at majors to get any relevance on LIV. There’s no path on LIV to becoming a Sam Burns or a Chris Gotterup because there’s just no cache to winning or challenging for a LIV event
They’re also clearly banking on some of these young guys becoming elite players and helping some of the competitiveness concerns (which in turn would more pressure on the majors and OWGR to let more LIV guys in).
The issue is the young guys basically have to win a major or consistently top ten at majors to get any relevance on LIV. There’s no path on LIV to becoming a Sam Burns or a Chris Gotterup because there’s just no cache to winning or challenging for a LIV event
Posted on 1/20/26 at 1:46 pm to lsupride87
quote:
But my question moreso would be on LIVs end of why offer that
They're trying to undercut the PGA's young player pipeline. They also had a boatload of cash available with Koepka leaving.
Posted on 1/20/26 at 3:48 pm to jimjackandjose
quote:
Dropping a masters exemption for
^any reason is wild.
I remember when guys would delay declaring pro until after Masters just to make sure they go to play at ANGC
Posted on 1/20/26 at 5:04 pm to makersmark1
LIV essentially allowed that for Jose Ballester last year.
They signed a golfer (Masaveu) to a half season deal until Ballester joined full time after the Masters & US Open.
Maybe they aren’t going to try that now with the OWGR application
They signed a golfer (Masaveu) to a half season deal until Ballester joined full time after the Masters & US Open.
Maybe they aren’t going to try that now with the OWGR application
This post was edited on 1/20/26 at 5:05 pm
Posted on 1/20/26 at 5:15 pm to JimTiger72
quote:
Maybe they aren’t going to try that now with the OWGR application
Wouldn’t giving him full status on LIV right out of the gate be a bigger problem than letting him simply join late?
Don’t PGA rookies just get conditional status to play a certain number of events to earn enough points, otherwise they get sent down to the KF or Q school?
This post was edited on 1/20/26 at 5:17 pm
Posted on 1/20/26 at 6:51 pm to The Pirate King
I’m not sure there’s a number that would get me to pass on playing in the masters. He may never get another chance
Posted on 1/20/26 at 6:52 pm to The Pirate King
quote:
They're trying to undercut the PGA's young player pipeline.
It’s a good idea in theory, but I’m not sure it will pan out. Lasasso doesn’t bring any extra eyeballs to LIV if he doesn’t win majors, and going to LIV makes playing in them and winning one extremely difficult.
I get why you would take the money as a college kid, but I’m going to bet Phil and LIV sold him a bill of goods that probably doesnt happen.
Posted on 1/21/26 at 8:49 am to igotit
quote:
Can you two just text each other?
Posted on 1/21/26 at 9:12 am to lsufball19
quote:
Wouldn’t giving him full status on LIV right out of the gate be a bigger problem than letting him simply join late?
No, I’d assume LIV has certain requirements/qualifications to sign new players & amateurs. At least moving forward. Not sure what they are but I’m sure they’ve shared that info with OWGR.
Piot, Ogletree, & Ballester all won the US Am. La Sasso won the NCAA individual championship.
This post was edited on 1/21/26 at 9:28 am
Page 1 of 2
Popular
Back to top
Follow TigerDroppings for LSU Football News