Canada's Costabile takes next step in golf journey alongside mentor Sharp at Pan Ams

Before Selena Costabile ever gripped a seven-iron or putter, her fingers danced on a piano keyboard.

The 25-year-old professional golfer and classically trained pianist says music was her first love, and a hobby she maintains to this day both from her apartment in West Palm Beach, Fla., and back home in Thornhill, Ont.

But golf isn't some pastime — it's been a job for Costabile since she turned pro at just 18 years old.

Now, she's hoping to hit all the right notes when she makes her Pan Am Games debut for Canada in Santiago, Chile. Costabile will compete alongside fellow Canadians Alena Sharp, Myles Creighton and Etienne Papineau when the tournament tees off Thursday at the Prince of Wales Country Club.

Live coverage will be available through the tournament's conclusion Sunday on CBCSports.ca, the CBC Sports app and CBC Gem.

Costabile currently plays on the Epson Tour, where golfers compete to earn LPGA status. She told CBC Sports that a tournament like the Pan Ams can help her achieve that goal.

"Every tournament I feel is an experience that can help you move forward no matter what it is," she said. "But something like this, where you know the pressure will definitely be on you, you want to perform and play well for your country and kind of navigating that pressure as well as just trying to play my best, I think will give me good experience."

Costabile and Sharp, the 42-year-old from Hamilton, Ont., have become unlikely friends on the golf circuit, with the latter embracing the role of mentor.

Part of that leadership role included coming to the Pan Am Games – an event normally reserved for up-and-coming athletes as opposed to two-time Olympians like Sharp.

Still, Sharp said it's important for her to be there with her