Unlike so many hotshot golfers who come out of collegiate golf these days, Segundo Oliva Pinto chose to defer turning professional. In his words, the newly minted 25-year-old Argentinian – and 2021 Southeastern Conference individual champion from the University of Arkansas – wasn’t ready for the grind of the play-for-pay circuit.
None of the other 263 competitors in the 43rd U.S. Mid-Amateur Championship might agree with that assessment. Not after Oliva Pinto, who has became eligible for the competition on Sept. 1 and is the youngest player in the field, carded a 5-under-par 65 on Sunday at stroke-play co-host Independence Golf Club, in Midlothian, Va. Combined with Saturday’s 3-under 68 at Kinloch Golf Club, Oliva Pinto shared medalist honors with 2023 U.S. Mid-Amateur runner-up Evan Beck at 8-under-par 133.That was two strokes off the championship record set in 2021 by Yaroslav Merkulov at Sankaty Head Golf Club and Miacomet Golf Course on Nantucket Island, in Massachusetts.
Oliva Pinto is the second consecutive Latin/South American player to be U.S. Mid-Amateur medalist/co-medalist, following Jeronimo Esteve, of Puerto Rico. Beck, 34, of Virginia Beach, Va., backed up an opening-round 68 at Independence Golf Club, where he’s won a pair of Virginia State Open titles, with a 6-under 65 at Kinloch, a round that saw him make nine birdies.
The duo finished one stroke ahead of 18-hole co-leader and 2014 champion Scott Harvey, 46, of Greensboro, N.C.; Andy Butler, 28, of Philadelphia, Pa., and 2023 quarterfinalist Parker Edens, 34, of Brookings, S.D., the head men’s golf coach at South Dakota State University.
The cut for match play came at 1-over 142 with 14 competitors playing off on Monday morning for the final 12 spots.
Following an overnight thunderstorm that dropped a minimal amount of precipitation on both courses, the competitors were greeted with overcast skies that eventually morphed into afternoon sunshine. Temperatures were in the mid-70s most of the first day of fall.
“At some point, I would like to turn pro,” said Oliva Pinto, who also won the Colonial Athletic Association individual title in 2019 when he competed for the University of North Carolina-Wilmington before transferring to Arkansas in the fall of 2020 for his final three collegiate seasons (including a COVID-19 year). “I want to get my game better first…Just keep improving and get more results. I have no rush right now.”
Instead of entering PGA Tour/Korn Ferry Tour Q-School or chasing paychecks on the mini-tour circuit, Oliva Pinto decided to become an entrepreneur with brother Tobias, two years his senior. Tobias, with an industrial engineering background, and Segundo created Hangry King, a barbecue kit that features a variety of tools “to flex and grill in style,” according to its website. The prototypes have been tested and the two will bring the product to Amazon sometime in November.
That has freed Oliva Pinto up to play as much amateur golf as possible over the past 19 months, including a tie for eighth in the Latin America Amateur Championship this past January in Panama. He also qualified for his second U.S. Amateur, missing the cut at Hazeltine National Golf Club. In 2020, he reached the Round of 16 at Bandon Dunes before a heartbreaking 1-down defeat to eventual champion Tyler Strafaci when his local caddie committed a costly loss-of-hole Rules infraction on the 18th hole.
To prepare for his first U.S. Mid-Amateur, Oliva Pinto won the Argentina Mid-Am, then took the long flight from Buenos Aires to Virginia, where his good form continued.
During Sunday’s second round at Independence Golf Club, a public facility that once housed the Virginia State Golf Association, Oliva Pinto had thoughts of posting a 62 or 63 after making four birdies in a five-hole stretch. It included a 30-footer from the fringe on the 204-yard, par-3 ninth, a pair of 10-footers on Nos. 11 and 12, and a 40-foot “bomb” on the 449-yard 13th hole, the fourth-hardest hole on the course. But a late bogey on 16, a 448-yard, par-4, ended his hopes for a super-low round.
“I am glad to have my game back again,” said Oliva Pinto. “I think I brought my ‘A’ game this week, so I feel like I am in a good place.”
For the second consecutive day, Beck, playing just two hours from home in front of friends and family, posted a first-nine, 5-under 30. But unlike on Saturday when he struggled over his final nine holes, including bogeys on two of his last three holes, he continued to put his foot on the gas pedal, finishing with consecutive birdies on Nos. 17 and 18.
Beck, No. 32 in the World Amateur Golf Ranking®/WAGR®, began his second nine by hitting his tee shot into a penalty area and then holing a clutch 12-foot bogey putt. He recovered with two consecutive birdies before sustaining bogeys on 14 and 15. Sitting at 6 under with two holes to play, the former Wake Forest standout who was the runner-up in the 2008 U.S. Junior Amateur, stuffed an 8-iron from 182 yards to 2 feet on the par-4 17th. Then on the par-5 18th, he crushed a 5-wood from 280 yards into the right-greenside bunker and got up and down for his 4, converting a short 3-footer.
”It’s great. I don’t think I have been a medalist in a USGA event, so that is really cool,” said Beck. “I’ve got a bunch of matches to play so looking at the next one.
“I played really well, hit it close a handful of times. I had nine birdies, and several were kick-ins, which helps and makes it stress free.”
Harvey, a property manager, was hoping to land medalist honors for a fifth time in 15 U.S. Mid-Amateur starts. A 64 on Saturday at Kinloch had the two-time USGA champion – he also captured the 2019 U.S. Amateur Four-Ball title with partner Todd Mitchell – thinking about such a feat. A 40-foot birdie on the par-4 first at Independence continued such thoughts. But it turned out to be a day of scrambling and grinding just to post even-par 70.
“My body just didn’t feel like I could move today,” said Harvey, who has cut back his competitive schedule over the last few years to spend more time with his 15-year-old son, Cameron, an aspiring junior golfer, and 5-year-old son, Gavin, who turns 6 in October. “I’m exhausted. I’m glad I am done…I get to go watch [NFL] football, relax and hydrate. I’m happy to have the whole afternoon to just chill out and relax.”
Butler, a consultant who played collegiately at Villanova University and attended the same high school in Lancaster, Pa., as 2003 U.S. Open champion Jim Furyk (Manheim Township), made the 15-minute drive to Kinloch after completing his first round on Saturday at Independence to get himself acclimated to the bentgrass greens. Independence features bermudagrass throughout, which has a completely different playing characteristic.
He also came to his second U.S. Mid-Amateur – he missed the cut last year – with a different mindset. It was a lesson learned recently at the Pennsylvania Mid-Amateur when he followed a first-round 68 with a 75 in the 36-hole competition. A 3-under 68 after his 66 at Independence demonstrated a lesson properly learned.
”I thought I did a pretty good job,” said Butler of his putting and course management. “I have played a decent amount between PA (Pennsylvania) and the GAP (Golf Association of Philadelphia). Probably more than I should. I am waiting on that [match-play] tee time [on Monday] and figuring out when I can work just to keep things rolling.”
A year ago, Edens, in his third season at the helm of the Jackrabbits’ men’s golf program, had to sweat out a playoff just to make match play after a disastrous bogey-bogey-double bogey finish to stroke play. Once in the draw, however, Edens made a run to the quarterfinals, losing to eventual champion Stewart Hagestad, 2 and 1. No such anxiety occurred this year following a second-round 65 at Kinloch. His lone blemish was a bogey on No. 16, his seventh hole of the day. Otherwise, he played 7-under golf, a performance that would portend well in match play.
“I hit some really good shots and then I made some good putts,” said Edens. “On 5 I was looking at a tree just left of it [the green] and I kind of pushed it at the flag. I told my [local] caddie that’s what I tell my guys [student-athletes]. That’s why we aim at the tree instead of at the flag and miss the green right.”
Three competitors finished at 6-under 135: 2024 U.S. Amateur quarterfinalist/2023 U.S. Mid-Amateur quarterfinalist Bobby Massa, of Dallas, Texas; 2023 U.S. Open qualifier Christian Cavaliere, of Katonah, N.Y.; and Stephen Hale, of Bakersfield, Calif.
First-round co-leader Nick Barrett, a UPS truck driver from Catonsville, Md., posted a 1-over 72 at Kinloch after a career-round 64 on Day 1 at Independence for a 5-under total of 136.
What’s Next
The 14-for-12 playoff for the final spots in the match-play draw will take place at 7:10 a.m. EDT off the 10th tee at Kinloch Golf Club, and then progressing forward, if necessary. The first Round-of-64 match is scheduled for 8 a.m. Match play continues Tuesday and Wednesday, with the 36-hole final set for Thursday. Admission is free and spectators are encouraged to attend.
Notable
Notable competitors in the playoff include 2022 U.S. Mid-Amateur runner-u Hugh Foley; 2024 U.S. Senior Amateur runner-up Daniel Sullivan, 2007 U.S. Amateur Public Links runner-up Cody Paladino; Andrew Paysse, the brother-in-law of two-time Masters champion and world No. 1 Scottie Scheffler; 2024 U.S. Open qualifier/high school science teacher Colin Prater, and former Stanford University tennis player Jack Barber.
Five USGA champions qualified for match play: Scott Harvey (2014 U.S. Mid-Amateur/2019 U.S. Amateur Four-Ball); Chad Wilfong (2022 U.S. Amateur Four-Ball); Brian Blanchard (2024 U.S. Amateur Four-Ball); Stewart Hagestad (2016, 2021, 2023 U.S. Mid-Amateur); and Matthew McClean (2022 U.S. Mid-Amateur). Hagestad carded a 3-under 67 at Independence Golf Club as he looks to be the third player in Mid-Amateur history to capture consecutive titles.
Other notables to make the cut were 2012 U.S. Amateur runner-up/2013 USA Walker Cupper Michael Weaver; Adam Barkow, the son of award-winning golf writer Al Barkow; Jordan Utley, of Richmond, Va., who spent three years as the director of finance at Independence G.C.; three-time USGA runner-up Drew Kittleson (2008 U.S. Amateur, 2022 and 2023 U.S. Amateur Four-Ball); and Argentinian Andres Schonbaum, the Latin and Caribbean manager for The R&A.
Five U.S. Mid-Amateur champions failed to advance, including four-time winner Nathan Smith, the 2025 USA Walker Cup captain who received a special exemption into the field. Others not qualifying included Matt Parziale (2017), Lukas Michel (2019), Kevin O’Connell (2018) and victorious 2023 USA Walker Cup captain Michael McCoy (2013).
Other notables who did not qualify included two-time USGA champion Todd White (2015 U.S. Amateur Four-Ball/2023 U.S. Senior Amateur); Mark Costanza (2021 U.S. Mid-Amateur runner-up); Ben Warnquist (2016 U.S. Amateur Four-Ball runner-up); Jeronimo Esteve (2023 U.S. Mid-Amateur medalist); Joseph Deraney (2019 U.S. Mid-Amateur runner-up); Rick Stimmel (1997 U.S. Mid-Amateur runner-up), and Sam Engel (2024 U.S. Amateur Four-Ball champion).
The stroke averages for both courses were virtually identical: 73.58 for Independence and 73.71 for Kinloch.
Quotable
“I am just trying to play dominant golf out there. When I am feeling good, I like to push it. I feel like that is the mentality that helps me get better.” – Seguno Oliva Pinto on his mindset during stroke play
“Yeah, for sure. It’s very, very difficult to get all the way to the finals. Hats off to Stewart [Hagestad] and anyone else that’s even won this tournament. It’s extremely difficult. You have to play as well as you can every single day, every single match. Because you can run into a guy that makes nine birdies on you and then what do you do. It’s always a goal. Take one shot at a time and we will see what happens.” – Evan Beck on his motivation after being the runner-up a year ago
“Today was an adventure. I was not near as sharp today. I got off to a good start. Made like a 40-footer on the first hole. I had a couple three-putts. A couple of really good up-and-down pars.” – Scott Harvey
“I have a lot of good dudes. Our social media put out a post yesterday and a bunch of them reposted it. A bunch of them texted me last night that said good playing. I am a lucky dude. They are actually playing in a practice round for a tournament today. Hopefully, they go and play really good in it without me. They will probably ask me to stay away if that is the case. We are a super close group. They are like my second family.” - Parker Edens when asked if he has heard from his South Dakota State players
“It’s the experience of knowing what it takes to make match play. I made a couple of really dumb mistakes, a couple of three-putts [last year]. Looking back, I realize if I just play my game, play well, make smart decisions, then I am right in it. Just knowing that helped a ton. This year my game is also sharper too, which helps. Also just knowing what to expect in general, with registration and the whole production.” – Andy Butler on playing in his second U.S. Mid-Amateur after a missed cut in 2023
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