From Argentina to Nebraska to Kingston, one thing that has remained constant in the life of Geronimo Narizzano is the game of golf.
Narizzano, a fourth-year, is in the midst of his second season with the University of Rhode Island men’s golf team after spending two years at Southeast Community College in Nebraska.
Narizanno’s journey began growing up in Buenos Aires, Argentina when his dad introduced him to the game of golf. He immediately became hooked. He had the luxury of being able to play against some high level competition and used that to try and continue to always improve.
“The course where I played had a lot of very good, competitive players,” Narizzano said. “The competitiveness of the golf where I played back home helped me get better everyday.”
When coming over to the United States to play at Southeast Community College, the discrepancies in life off the golf course were very prevalent for Narizzano.
“I was coming from a big city in Argentina and going to a really small town in the middle of Nebraska,” Narizzano said. “Everything outside the golf course was very different.”
On the golf course, however, Narizzano seemed to have no problems adjusting. During his time at Southeast Community College, he was a two-time National Junior Collegiate Athletic Association Division II All-American and was the runner up at the 2022 NJCAA Division II National Championship. These results stood out to URI Head Coach Gregg Burke, but he said it was the kind of characteristics that he brought off the golf course that made him the perfect fit for the team.
“I was attracted to all his values that would apply to life and golf,” Burke said. “He’s got personality, he’s got smarts, he loves people and people love him.”
The interest was mutual as Narizzano cited both the URI campus and the culture of the team as reasons why he chose Rhode Island. Narizanno also felt comfortable with the atmosphere in Kingston, one he said felt much more similar to what he grew up with and gave him a sense of home.
“There’s more people, [it’s] more active, more stuff to do,” Narizzano said. “I still have the great things about golf that are better in the United States overall than in Argentina while also having a more similar life that I had back at home.”
Through his two years at Rhode Island, Narizzano has been in the lineup for two team wins and has been a part of the lineup in every single event during the 2023-24 season. Individually, he had a top-five finish back at the Sacred Heart Fall Classic in Milford, Connecticut in October. During this event, he strung together the best round of his season, a two-under round two, which helped lead the team to a second-place finish.
Beyond just the results, Narizzano is one of the few veteran presences on an otherwise very young team. Aside from Narizanno, fifth-year Bryson Richards is the only other member of the team that is older than a second-year. Narizzano talked specifically about how he has tried to take first-years Tony Liu and Josiah Tong under his wing, as they are both international students along with him.
“It’s about just trying to be available to them,” Narizzano said. “They’re great players, but you know something golf related or not golf related, it’s just trying to be available to them.”
As the end of the spring season approaches, that means the Atlantic 10 Championship in Orlando, Florida is coming up on April 26-28. As opposed to focusing solely on his individual performance, Narizzano is trying to ensure that he will bring all he possibly can to the team to try and secure a win at their biggest event of the year.
“[Our] goal as a team is to win a tournament, hopefully A-10s,” Narizzano said. “I would also love to win an individual [tournament], but that is not as important and as big of a goal as winning with the team.”
This displays the team-first mindset Narizanno has taken on, despite only being here for less than two years. Burke went on to discuss how he has continued to serve as a great influence for everyone around him.
“The way he handles himself in a lot of situations, the boys see and emulate it,” Burke said. “His maturity, he’s willing to do anything and he really is a remarkable young man.”
Geronimo Narizanno has had a long journey to the URI golf team, but he has found a home here. As the team goes down the stretch and searches for their first win of the 2023-24 season, Narizzano will continue to play an integral role both on and off the golf course.