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.