Greg Reilly takes full swing at college athletics

Sophomore Greg Reilly is a college athlete, but it wasn't always that way. Drive by drive, chip by chip and putt by putt, he has honed his craft. In the gym and on the links, he has conditioned himself to play a game that many have tried and few have mastered. Without fame or fanfare, he has carved out his niche among his most competitive peers, earning the title of "Triton."

Greg's sport is golf, a demanding game of inches that takes a lifetime to master. It's a maddeningly fruitless march towards a tantalizing but unreachable ideal of perfection that haunts men's dreams. Greg caught the bug from his uncle at the age of 16. He also counts his mother and grandfather among his golf-playing relatives. In his high school days, Greg spent long afternoons out on the links at the Country Club of Darien in New Caanan, CT, a hotbed of prep and country club culture in Western Connecticut's affluent Fairfield County.

Competition was stiff, and Greg was not recruited to play golf in college. He tried to adjust to life after golf as a freshman at the College of Charleston, but the itch inevitably got to him. He went back to practicing as a sophomore, but couldn't make the cut as a walk on. 

And so he came to Eckerd, where just five men from a roster of nine or 10 are chosen to compete at each tournament. The unheralded Reilly had to prove himself worthy of a spot on this selective squad of Eckerd's best players. This meant getting up early.

Athletes and non-athletes alike love to joke about the conditioning of the golf team, but 6:30 am workouts are no laughing matter. Greg has them twice a week, and when combined with classes and an afternoon practice at nearby Twin Brook Golf Center, Mangrove Bay, St. Petersburg Country Club, the Vinoy Club course or Isla del Sol Yacht and Country Club, they can make for a long day. Sometimes he has night class afterwards.

Despite his strenuous workload, Greg remains upbeat. "He's nice guy with a great personality," says teammate Jeff Evanier. "He adds a positive vibe to the team." Fellow golfer Maxwell Fox agrees. "He's a great teammate, very easy to get along with," says Fox. 

Months of practice and preparation paid off for Greg as he made his first tournament appearance with the team at the Rollins College Invitational on Oct. 24-25, where he tied for 40th place. "There's nothing like playing tournament golf," says Reilly. "It's such a challenge and such a great feeling playing under the pressure; especially playing well. There's no other way to prepare for tournament golf than to play tournament golf. I stepped out for my first tournament in 3 months…and I was a little nervous, but you have to expect that. It's what we golfers live for. "

Greg is skinny; not a shrimp, just skinny. As the shortest driver on the team, he relies on his short game to keep his stroke count down. Difficult chip shots and nerve-fraying puts are his specialty. Of Greg's game, Max says, "He's a good golfer. He always hits the ball straight and keeps it in play." Around the cup, Greg is a surgeon, squashing any flutter of doubt or excitement that could threaten the steadiness of his hands. Calmly, he takes aim at the target put before him, never more than one put away from perfection.

Here at Eckerd, Greg has finally found a place for his game to develop. As his tournament credentials grow along with his experience, his ambition drives him to reach even higher. "The goal is to play pro golf, but in golf, you can't look at the big picture, says Greg. "I just try and get better and learn something new every day. I won't be disappointed if I reach my full potential, whatever that is." Whatever Greg may go on to achieve in golf, he has already beaten the odds against him, and he offers the following advice to those who face similar odds: "My advice would be to not let people determine your future for you. If you want it bad enough, do whatever you have to do to get after it, no matter if someone tells you you can't cut it. "