Shane Pinto got his first real taste of pro golf this week, and the scoreboard at the Commissionaires Ottawa Open made it plain: there’s a big leap from weekend rounds with friends to a PGA Tour Americas event.
The Senators centre was in Ottawa on a sponsor’s exemption at the Marshes Golf Club in Kanata, where he took on a field full of elite professionals and, as expected, ran into a brutal learning curve. Pinto missed the cut and finished last, something teammate Claude Giroux had already warned him about.
Giroux has played the event before, and the two even teamed up in the pro-am earlier in the week, with Pinto serving as the group’s pro. That foursome also finished last at -1.
Pinto had been upfront about not knowing what to expect. He had never played a tournament of any kind before, and he admitted earlier in the week that the range of outcomes was wide open.
"I should break 80, but I could easily not even break 90," Pinto told the media earlier this week. "I don't know what's going to happen, so I have no idea."
In the end, the 80 never really came into view. On the par-72 layout, which played just under 7,100 yards, Pinto posted rounds of 87 and 82 to finish at +25, 16 shots back of the field. By Friday’s turn in round two, he was already at +26 and staring at a long afternoon.
Still, he found something as the event went on. Pinto settled down late and closed with a strong back nine, going -1 over his final nine holes.
That left him with a 47 on the front and a 35 on the back on Friday, a reminder that once he got comfortable, he could at least show flashes of real scoring ability. If he had put together three more nines like that, he would have been right on the cut line at -4.
Even if the results were rough, Pinto’s presence mattered. The 25-year-old NHLer put his name and profile behind an event that supports Soldier On, a program within the Canadian Armed Forces Transition Group that helps ill and injured members and veterans through sport, recreational, and creative activities.
Pinto may not be climbing leaderboards any time soon, but his week helped bring attention to a local tournament and a good cause. The PGA Tour Americas Commissionaires Ottawa Open continues Saturday and Sunday at the Marshes Golf Club, with free admission.
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