October 18th —Remember Lee's Jim Salinetti? The three-time Mass. Amateur champ, two-time New England Amateur champ and successful touring pro who's struggled of late?

Pittsfield's Matt Donovan has overshadowed him this season, thanks to a pair of runner-up finishes and his first career win on the North American Pro Golf Tour.

Salinetti's struggled this season, and has only four top 20 finishes since March. To make matters worse, he tore a ligament in his back two months ago while in Pensacola, Fla.

"I made a funny move," he said. "I thought I might recover, but it didn’t. It's not the end of the world. I’m pretty much fine now.”

Although healthy now, the injury has prevented Salinetti from playing in any 54-hole events. On Oct. 11th, he decided to test his back and went to Colonie Country Club in New York to play in a 36-hole Players Ability Test, commonly referred to as the PAT for aspiring PGA Professionals.

"I said 'I want to go play in something', so I played in it. I can’t travel because of my back. And it’s October, and there’s nothing else going on."

Turns out, his game hadn't rusted much. Salinetti shot a 4-under 68 in the morning then followed that up with a career-low 61 in the afternoon that included eight consecutive birdies.

"I’ll never have a better chance to shoot 59," said Salinetti, who was 10-under thru 12 holes but played 1-under the rest of the way. "I blew it." Needless to say, he won low honors...by 12 shots. And, no, he doesn't have immediate eyes on becoming a PGA professional He just wanted to play in something.

The first week of November, Salinetti will head back down to Florida. But he won't be returning to the Breakers in Palm Beach, where he worked for the past three years. Instead, he'll be working as an assistant at the Wanderers Club in Wellington for former University of Rhode Island teammate Justin Thompson, who previously worked at Pine Valley.

When asked if he has given up on playing for a living, he responded simply: "I’m not done playing. Don’t worry about me."

Salinetti played a round recently with Donovan, who begins PGA TOUR Qualifying School on Oct. 23rd at Florence Country Club in Florence, South Carolina.

"He’s playing great. He’s peaking at the right time."