By Grace Perchisky, Staff Writer
From sharing the same backyard to playing on the same golf course, the Gianniny brothers will meet in Kingsmill, Virginia to settle a family rivalry. Two-time A10 rookie of the week, Danny Gianniny, hopes to help lead his team to victory in the rounds to come.
“I always try to follow in his [Jack’s] footsteps and always had someone to look up to,” Gianniny expressed in regard to the role model in his life.
As the saying goes, a friendly family competition never hurt anyone. This holds true for the Gianniny brothers as they compete at the collegiate level.
“It’s really fun competing with him in college rounds, but we are definitely competitive, and he will give it to me if he beats me in the rounds,” Gianniny said.
“I started playing when I was young and then took it more seriously, becoming as good as I could, and looking at my brother who’s a really solid player,” Gianniny said. “It definitely helped a lot to look up to someone like that. Try to be as good as him, to help push me.”
Gianniny saw golf as a way of competing and his ticket to furthering his education.
“I played a lot of sports in high school,” he said. “I primarily played basketball but gave it up so I could focus on one sport.”
It didn’t take long for him to fall in love with golf.
“I truly liked it, got really serious about it,” Gianniny said.
Like a lot of other collegiate athletes, Gianniny found the recruiting process daunting, but his older brother helped him out.
“[Jack] knew exactly what to do…like reach out to coaches,” Gianniny said.
Bonaventure’s alumni network and the university is well known for its “Bona Bubble.” For Gianniny, perhaps it was a bit of both.
“I’m from Rochester, and I heard so many good things about St. Bonaventure,” he said. “The alumni are so great. I wanted to stay close to home…I figured I’d check it out.”
Gianniny achieved many victories in his high school career, which helped get his name out to potential coaches.
Head golf coach, Ryan Swanson, got word of Gianniny and contacted him to gain an early start, which helped quicken the recruiting process.
“I started recruiting Danny his junior year of high school, who had a pretty solid career through high school,” Swanson said. “He wanted to stay home and play golf at the highest level, so we got in contact and hit it off…”
With the assistance of his brother, Gianniny found the recruiting process to be quick and easy.
“[Swanson] seemed like an awesome guy,” Gianniny said. “Things clicked, and we got along really well. Midway through junior year after my visit, I was definitely serious about coming here.”
With a lot of experience under his belt, Gianniny found the transition to be easy, but continues to adjust to the mental aspects of the game.
“It’s a little different. We play a lot of 36-hole rounds in one day. It’s brutal because the first two rounds are one day,” Gianniny said. “You’ll start at the crack of dawn and be there until it’s dark. Honestly, mentally, it’s harder because you know you’ll be grinding all day…”
Facing higher levels of competition has improved Gianniny’s play, but his teammates’ competitiveness continues to drive him.
“It’s definitely competitive within the team, and I’ve learned a lot from the senior Corey Long,” Gianniny said. “He has helped with my mentality and how to prepare for rounds.”
Swanson sees Gianniny as a huge asset to the team and knows the mentality will come with age.
“There’s always an adjustment period, and he had to adjust to that,” Swanson said. “[He] played big tournaments before college golf, so he was more experienced and ready to go. Becoming one of the best players in the conference at a very young age, he knows that he’s only a freshman and can lead us any day.”
Gianniny’s goals for the season are to become more experienced at this particular level.
“I want to work on the mental aspect of my game,” Gianniny said. “I think the key is being confident.”
Mental toughness and confidence are keys, acording to Gianniny.
“A huge thing for me is believing that you’re good and believing you could win,” Gianniny said.
On March 26, St. Bonaventure’s golf team will be on the road at Williamsburg, Virginia Kingsmill Resort, where they will compete against Kingsmill Intercollegiate.
