Chris Malloy’s Confident, Battle-Tested Rebels Head to NCAA Regionals

OXFORD, Miss. — Chris Malloy has stopped trying to predict what might come next for his Rebels golf team.

By now, with everything Ole Miss has been through, it’s hard to believe that anything will shake this team.

An SEC Championship. A run to the national semifinals a year ago. Injuries. Weather interruptions. Midseason adversity. Now, days before NCAA regional play commences, another unexpected challenge arose in the form of freshman Daniel Tolf’s trip back home to Sweden to be with his seriously ill mother.

But nonetheless, Malloy sounds more convinced than ever that his team will get through it.

“I just think this story’s already been written,” the Ole Miss head coach said Tuesday. “The script’s already done and we’re just watching it play out.”

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The confidence isn’t baseless.

Ole Miss enters postseason play fresh off the program’s first SEC Championship since 1984, defeating Florida 4-1 in the conference title match in April. Many of the key pieces from last year’s semifinal run remain in Oxford, and according to Malloy, the experience of breaking through on the national stage has changed the outlook and mindset of the group.

Ole Miss head coach Chris Malloy

That belief, he said, became much more visible during the SEC Tournament’s match-play portion.

“We can say whatever we want as coaches,” Malloy said, “but for them to actually experience that success themselves, that’s a big part of it.”

Malloy’s team will head to Bermuda Run, North Carolina, next week for regional competition. The head man’s team is slotted as a No. 2 seed and believes the more familiar playing surface could may well be a factor for his team.

“You like to stay on similar playing surfaces and similar grass,” Malloy said. “Bermuda Run, no pun intended, is Bermuda grass, which is very similar to what we face in this part of the world.”

That familiarity matters in golf, especially in postseason settings where even the smallest differences can quickly become magnified.

“When you get shipped out to the West Coast or another part of the country and it’s bentgrass or poa annua or some different type of grass, it just makes things a little more difficult,” Malloy said. “So this should provide a sense of comfort to us.”

The Rebels have had plenty of time to prepare, too, maybe even more than they wanted.

Coach Malloy 

Down a player

Still, the one of the biggest storylines for the team entering the week became unavoidable when Malloy revealed Tolf would not travel with the team.

“Our freshman from Sweden has gone back home,” Malloy said. “Unfortunately, his mom has been sick for a while and she’s not doing great.”

For Malloy, the decision was immediate.

Coach Malloy on Daniel Tolf’s return home to Sweden

Malloy made clear that golf had taken a backseat.

“Our thoughts and prayers are with him and his family over in Sweden,” he said.

Handling adversity

Replacing a contributor this late in the season often can cause chaos and uncertainty, but Malloy didn’t seem interested in spending much time worrying about it. Finn Meister and Jacob Blanton are both expected to travel, with Ole Miss expected to finalize its starting lineup in the coming days.

“We’ll figure out the best fit and roll with it,” Malloy said. “I’ve got no worry in my mind.”

Truthfully, he believes this team has earned that trust.

“What is it about this team that allows them to battle adversity?” one reporter asked Tuesday.

Malloy answered with a smile.

“I don’t know, but they love it,” he said. “Maybe I’m a sicko, but the more screwed-up the situation, the more I love it personally. Maybe that’s why I recruit these guys. We’re pretty similar in that regard. We’re a bunch of sickos.”

Beneath the joke, though, was something more substantive revealed about the character of the Ole Miss roster.

Coach Malloy

He pointed to previous moments earlier this year, including weather issues, roster uncertainty and other disruptions, when coaches might typically expect to have to rally an emotionally rattled squad.

Instead, they barely flinched.

“I thought I needed to stand up and give some speech or bring everyone together,” Malloy said. “And they just looked at me like I had six heads. They were like, ‘We got it, coach. We’re fine.’”

Now, Ole Miss enters another postseason with lofty expectations yet again, no longer holding the status of a potential surprise team trying to break through. They are the SEC champions with national semifinal experience and have legitimate championship aspirations.

Even Malloy, an Ole Miss graduate himself, admitted that the magnitude of this season has occasionally played with his emotions.

Coach Malloy

Still, he quickly redirected the attention back toward his players.

“If I didn’t have great players, I wouldn’t even be in the conversation for it,” Malloy said. “It’s definitely more a reflection of our players than me.”

That group will arrive in North Carolina carrying momentum, confidence and the expectations that now come with being one of the nation’s top teams.

Malloy believes they’re ready for it.

After everything they’ve already been through, why wouldn’t they be?

UP NEXT:

Ole Miss will travel to Winston-Salem, North Carolina for the regional round of the NCAA Tournament beginning on May 18.