MYRTLE BEACH, S.C. — Frank Pinto can be called a hard-core golfer — who doesn’t golf all that much.

A physical therapist in Butler, he has been a member at Oakview Golf Club since 1986, but rarely plays more than once a week. He has never won the club championship there.

“It’s rare for me to get a chance to play twice in a week,” Pinto, 60, said. “I never seem to have the time.”

He’s a member of the Pittsburgh Golf Tour, which plays every Sunday. But he only plays three or four times a year with that organization.

“I don’t like to play golf on Sundays,” he said.

But each year in late summer, Pinto makes the time to play in the World Amateur Golf Tournament in Myrtle Beach. He’s participated in that event 11 of the past 12 years.

The tournament features 64 flights and more than 3,300 golfers from all 50 states and 25 countries. The event is played on 60 different golf courses in the Myrtle Beach area.

“Anyone can sign up and play. You just need to have an established, certified handicap,” Pinto said. “You’re placed in a flight based on your handicap and play four different courses in four different days.

“There are a lot of serious golfers in Butler. Each year, I try to get more people to sign up and try this. It’s serious tournament golf for a week, yet it’s so much fun.”

Pinto’s handicap this year was 10.0. He competed in the 60-69 age division with approximately 50 golfers in his flight.

Pinto shot rounds of 79-80-78-85 Monday through Thursday of last week to win his flight by six strokes. That advanced him to Friday’s championship round against the winners of the other 63 flights to determine the 2016 world amateur champion.

Only he never got a chance to win the title.

“Tropical storm Hermine swept in and washed out the final round after a couple of holes,” Pinto said. “We were all a little sad when they announced a 2016 champion wouldn’t be crowned.”

Pinto had produced 11 birdies in 72 holes of golf during the tournament. He made four birdie putts on the first day.

“I’ve got a pretty decent short game with my chipping and putting,” he said. “This is the one week I enjoy the pressure of serious tournament golf. It gives you a taste of what it would feel like to play in a real pro event.”

Golfers must ride a cart each day and the pace of play is scrutinized closely by tourney officials. Pinto’s son, Michael — a former standout Butler High School golfer now attending nurse practitioner school in Charlotte, N.C. — comes to Myrtle Beach a few days before the tournament.

“He helps me prep for it,” Pinto said. “Michael and I play a round for three days straight before the tournament begins, so I actually play seven rounds in seven days.”

Pinto has been paired with a golfer from Scotland before, but said he mostly gets paired with golfers from southern states like Alabama, Georgia and Kentucky.

“They talk about college football a lot and I’m just trying to focus on golf,” he said.

“I tell them I’m from the town that’s got six Super Bowl trophies ... That quiets everybody down,” he said, laughing.

Pinto won his flight at the world amateur once before — in the men’s 49-under division in 2005. He finished as high as sixth one other time.

The World Amateur Golf Tournament has existed for 33 years. It debuted with 684 golfers in 1984.

“It’s the competition that brings me back,” Pinto said. “I love it.”