Donovan, Salinetti Ready for More

In Rudyard Kipling’s oft-referenced poem If, he reminds us all that “If you can meet with triumph and disaster and treat those two imposters just the same…yours is the earth and everything that’s in it…”

Perhaps no such prose more aptly embodies the philosophies of Pittsfield’s Matt Donovan and Lee’s Jim Salinetti as they embark on their sixth summer competing in the obscure underworld of professional golf’s minor leagues.

From the rocky shores of Maine to the warm waters of West Palm Beach, Fla., they have clutched trophies and squandered opportunities, made headlines and missed cuts, earned everything and been given nothing. Yet with equal grace, they have met both triumph and disaster alike with an uncommon indifference.

And so the journey continues Thursday, as both tee off in the season opening event on the New England Pro Golf Tour. The total purse of $108,000 in the Vermont National Open pales in comparison to the seven-figure check awaiting Sunday’s U.S. Open champion, but the shockwaves of a successful summer could soon carry them well beyond any backwoods mini-tour event.

“Every one of us anticipates that this year is our year,” said Donovan. “It’s never, ‘What are you doing this winter?’ We all expect to be on the PGA TOUR next year.”

Those expectations, however lofty, do have merit. In 30 events last year, Donovan recorded 15 top 10s, including a repeat win at the Greater Bangor Open, site of his first professional triumph in 2004. But top 10 after top 10 all summer, as any mini-tour veteran will tell you, does not guarantee success at PGA TOUR Qualifying School in the fall.

In October, Donovan entered the 72^nd hole of first stage needing only a par to advance. As daylight dwindled, play was suspended. He returned in the morning, made bogey and missed by one shot. He then spent the next seven months caddying at Seminole Golf Club, fueling the fire to put his caddying days behind him.

“I do not want to go back to that caddy yard,” Donovan said with a noticeable tinge in his voice. “That caddy yard wore me out, physically and mentally, waiting to carry someone’s bag. There’s not an alarm going off this year. As long as I see myself progressing upwards and not downwards, I’ll keep playing.”

Todd Sapere, an instructor at the Breakers Resort, has helped accelerate that progression, fine-tuning the structure and sequencing of Donovan’s swing.

“He struggles with the way he moves off the ball, turning instead of coiling,” said Sapere who also works with Salinetti. “He has the potential. He has everything it takes to get to the PGA TOUR. He just needs to do well at tour school. It’s just a matter of peaking at the right time.”

The problem for Jim Salinetti, contrarily, hasn’t been peaking, but the offsetting valleys. On five separate occasions last year, Salinetti posted consecutive rounds that had a disparity of at least eight shots, most notably during the first stage of PGA TOUR qualifying school, where he opened with 65, shot 78 one day later and eventually tied for 54^th.

Admittedly, Salinetti attributes those inconsistencies to swing changes that have only recently begun to feel natural.

“I wouldn’t even call them swing changes anymore,” he said. “Just getting it more repetitive is the goal. My good swings are perfect to me. I’m playing way better than I was last year. I’m a little more prepared. I’m a little more even-keeled.”

Six years ago, Salinetti captured the Red Lion Pro-Am in Stockbridge hitting a low left-to-right shot, and missed advancing to the finals of PGA TOUR qualifying school by one shot later that fall. Last summer, during a tense six-hole playoff in the Mass. Open, Salinetti peppered fairway after fairway with soft high draws.

“He had a swing that worked very well as kid and it kind of went away,” said Sapere, a PGA of America member. “He had a swing that was steep with a cut ball flight. Now he wants to hit some right to left shots. We got him more on plane. Last year was a big step with a new golf swing. I think he has a little bit more comfort with his golf swing.”

As much as Salinetti continues to refine his swing, his short game remains the anchor of his golf game. Wyantenuck head professional Tom Sullivan, still a mentor to Donovan and Salinetti, ranks his putting stroke as one of the best he has even seen, a fact not lost on his fellow competitors.

“His short game and his putting—he’s one of the best putters out there,” asserts Rob Oppenheim, the leading money winner on the New England Pro Golf Tour in 2005. “He broke through last year. When he’s hitting it well, he’s got the game.”

Despite Salinetti’s admirers, the expectations that come along with winning three Massachusetts Amateurs, two New England Amateurs and medalist honors during stroke-play qualifying of the 2000 U.S. Amateur will follow him to every tournament, down every fairway.

“When I was out of college, I didn’t know it would be this tough,” Salinetti admitted. “When I was 28, I thought I’d be on to bigger and better things.”

But alas, Kipling also said “If you can wait and not be tired by waiting…”