By Tom Murphy Jr.

Senior Reporter

Social reformer Arnold Toynbee once said that “To blur the line between work and play is the supreme accomplishment.”

Vince Carango and Robby McNiff III are hoping to do just that by getting paid to play the game they love.

Both Carango and McNiff are sophomores on the Oakland University golf team. Both have aspirations to eventually make the jump from college athlete to professional.

OU’s head coach Brian Costello said both have the physical ability to make it to the highest level, but how they handle their remaining years in college will determine whether their dreams come true.

Costello knows what it takes; he has been a member of the PGA since 2000.

“It’s a matter of how hard they work and how dedicated they are,” Costello said. “Some guys get off on the wrong road and it can ruin your career in a hurry, those who stay focused are the ones who seem to make it.”

Both Carango and McNiff said that they are completely focused on golf. Practice can be as long as seven hours a day with classes and study time mixed in between. During

tournaments, they may be on the golf course up to ten hours a day.

“You have to be committed to every single shot. One bad shot can ruin your entire round,” McNiff said. “It can defiantly put a lot of stress on you, it can be exhausting.”

Carango, a former wrestler at Lawton High School, said that it took a lot of discipline and hard work to get to the level that he is at now and that it is those same qualities that will help propel him further in the sport.

Carango said that when he was younger his family didn’t have a lot of extra money so he had to take it upon himself to work in order to play golf.

“I fully understand that you get out what you put in,” Carango said.

Costello believes that Carango’s experience as a wrestler helps him with his discipline and concentration on the golf course.

For McNiff, athletic talent runs in the family. His father Bob McNiff played golf professionally and his great uncle, Bill Wolski, played collegiate football at Notre Dame 1963-65 and professionally for the Atlanta Falcons in 1966, according to the OU athletics web site ougrizzlies.com.

Costello said that McNiff has an abundance of talent for golf but he has not reached his peak and can continue to improve.

“Robby’s a very strong player,” Costello said “He’s a solid ball striker, and a good putter. I do expect more out of him over the next few months and the next few years because he is an outstanding talent.”

Costello had so much faith in McNiff’s abilities as a golfer that when Costello decided to leave Belmont University (located in Nashville, Tenn.) and take the head coaching position at OU, he wanted to take McNiff with him. McNiff was a freshman at Belmont at the time.

“When I took the job here at OU, Robby was in the third week of his freshman year at Belmont,” Costello said. “I recruited Robby to come down to Belmont and I think Robby saw the opportunity here [at OU] as a way to get back closer to home.”

For McNiff, originally a product of Muskegon, there were other reasons to make the move back to Michigan, according to Costello.

“We have the facilities Belmont could only dream of,” Costello said. “The opportunity for Robby to play consistently was here as well, and that had to be very exciting for him.”

Making the progression from OU’s golf team to professional golf has been done before.

Former OU golfer Brian Stuard (who played for OU from 2001-2005) is currently competing on the Nationwide Tour. The Nationwide Tour is the last stop before the bright lights and big money of the PGA tour.

Costello said that Stuard is a good role model for Carango and McNiff because he is an excellent example of the dedication it takes to make it to the pro level.

“It’s a life commitment,” Costello said. “You have to live it, breathe it, eat it, drink it. You can’t have any other distractions outside of golf to be able to play at that level.”

So far that is the kind of commitment that both Carango and McNiff have made and neither plan to stop anytime soon.

“Playing professionally is what I’ve always wanted to do,” Carango said. “I’m starting to see progress and hopefully I’ll keep going and if I keep working hard I think I can go pro.”