OLD LYME, Conn. – Rising sophomore Evan Grenus of the Wofford College men's golf team put on a dominating performance to win the 113th Connecticut Amateur Championship, defeating Greg Reilly 5 and 4 on Friday at Black Hall Club.
 
The final was a match scheduled for 36 holes between Grenus and the tournament's No. 9 overall seed, Reilly. Grenus found himself 2 down after just three holes, but won four straight from holes 5-8 to go 2 up through six. He extended his lead to 4 up with a par on 10 and birdie at the par-5, 570-yard 11th.
 
Grenus coasted the rest of the way. He was 3 up after the first 18 and the gap never got any closer. He buried back-to-back birdies on the 30th and 31st holes to go 5 up with five holes to play. A par putt at the par-5 32nd won him the title.
 
The Connecticut Amateur Championship comes just one year after Grenus took home the Connecticut Jr. Amateur in July of 2014. He is the first former Junior Amateur Champion to go on to win the Amateur since Kevin Gai of Indian Hill CC (1983 Junior Amateur and 1996 Amateur Champion).

"It feels amazing to win my state's biggest championship," said Grenus, a native of Glastonbury, Conn. "I had a solid week out there and winning this tournament is a great feeling of accomplishment. Winning the Junior Am last year definitely gave me confidence going in and prepared me for the next level of competition.

"Greg [Reilly] holed some really nice putts on holes 2, 3 and 4. He went 2 up, but then I got hot. Once I was 3 up, it allowed me to keep being aggresive and not worry about dropping a hole."
 
Grenus earned his place in the finals after knocking off defending champion Zach Zaback in decisive fashion in Thursday's semifinals. On the difficult 6,666-yard par-71 layout, Grenus recorded five birdies and no bogies en-route to a 7 and 6 victory over the 2014 CSGA Player of the Year.
 
The rising sophomore earned his spot in the 32-man match play field by finishing 19th of 122 through two rounds of stroke play.

"It's definitely a confidence boost going into the rest of the summer and my sophomore year. I hope I can just continue to get better and build on this."