We’ve detected that JavaScript is disabled in this browser. Please enable JavaScript or switch to a supported browser to continue using twitter.com. You can see a list of supported browsers in our Help Center. Show
Help Center
There are undoubtedly more than a few people who’ve tuned into the 2022 PGA Championship at Southern Hills Country Club, looked at the leaderboard, and asked the same question: Who is Mito Pereira? As with most professional golfers, Pereira learned the game at a young age. Pereira, whose given name is Guillermo Pereira Hinke, was born in March 1995 in Santiago, Chile, the same hometown as Joaquin Niemann. Hard to imagine that a country with only approximately 50 golf courses could produce two of the top players in the world, isn’t it? Pereira made a name for himself early, placing second in the Boys 10-11 division at the prestigious Optimist International Junior Golf Championship in 2006. Two years later, he won the 12-13 division. Another two years later, he was the runner-up at the Junior Open Championship in Scotland, a tournament run by The R&A. Patrick Reed won this very same tournament in 2006, and Jordan Spieth was the runner-up in 2008. So, yeah, it’s a big deal. Still an amateur at age 17, Pereira won a tournament on Chile’s professional tour, taking the title at the 2013 Abierto Internacional de Las Brisas de Chicureo. In 2014, he headed to the U.S. to take a golf scholarship at Texas Tech, where he played for one year. During that year, he reached as high as the No. 5 spot in the World Amateur Golf Ranking and decided to turn pro in 2015. "I’ve just won three times in one year and going to the PGA Tour. This is by far the best thing that I've done in my life." Mito Pereira is the first Korn Ferry Tour pro to earn a PGA Tour promotion since 2016: https://t.co/a60l3p23sS pic.twitter.com/g1AzVOyQKq Pereira joined the PGA Tour Latinoamerica for the 2016 season and was wildly successful, quickly becoming the youngest player ever to hold the tour’s No. 1 ranking. With a win, two runner-up finishes, and several other top-10s, Mito finished in the top five in the Order of Merit, earning full-time status for what’s now known as the Korn Ferry Tour. He struggled a bit over the next few years, bouncing back and forth between the PGA Tour Latinoamerica and the Korn Ferry Tour, where he finally notched his first win in 2020 at the Country Club de Bogota Championship. In June 2021, he won the REX Hospital Open, which vaulted him into the top 200 in the Official World Golf Ranking for the first time. Just one week later, he won again at the BMW Charity Pro-Am, a victory that bumped him up to No. 151 in the world. But that triumph earned him much more than some world ranking points. Pereira earned instant status on the PGA Tour and finished tied for fourth at the Tokyo OlympicsWith his win at the BMW, Mito Pereira became just the 12th player in the developmental tour’s history to earn instant status on the PGA Tour by winning three events in the span of a year and the first since 2016. His first tournament as a PGA Tour member didn’t go like he’d hoped as he missed the cut at the Rocket Mortgage Classic, but he tied for 34th the following week at the John Deere Classic. Pereira earned his first top-5 finish the next week at the Barbasol Championship and then tied for sixth one week later at the 3M Open. And one week after that, he made his home country proud with a fine showing at the Tokyo Olympics. Pereira was one of seven players to compete in the bronze-medal playoff, where he was eventually eliminated, earning a tie for fourth. Seven weeks later, Pereira earned his highest PGA Tour finish to date, finishing in solo third at the Fortinet Championship, which vaulted him into the top 100 in the world rankings for the first time. Imagine how many spots Mito Pereira could jump with a win at the PGA Championship. Stats courtesy of PGATour.com Like Sportscasting on Facebook. Follow us on Twitter @sportscasting19 and subscribe to our YouTube channel. RELATED: Who Is the Lowest-Ranked Golfer to Win a Major Championship? TULSA, Oklahoma — Mito Pereira is a surprise contender at the 2022 PGA Championship, entering Sunday's final round with a three-shot lead on Will Zalatoris. For those friendly sports wagerers among us, Pereira is looking like a great longshot pick, as Tipico had him at +140000 to win at Southern Hills Country Club before the tournament started. But golf fans have been hearing his name for a while. The PGA Tour rookie earned his card after getting promoted from the Korn Ferry Tour in June 2021 via the Three-Victory Promotion, the first player to earn that since 2016 and 12th overall. Pereira, who hails from Santiago, Chile, and grew up playing against Joaquin Niemann, is ranked 100th in the Official World Golf Ranking. Here are five things to know about the unheralded rookie leading the PGA Championship heading into Sunday's final round: Played one college season before turning proPereira was a member of the 2014-15 men’s golf team at Texas Tech. He finished second on the team with a 72.2 scoring average and was named to the All-Big 12 Championship team. Nearly medaled at the OlympicsPereira represented his home country of Chile in the men’s golf competition at the Summer Olympics in Japan in 2021. He almost brought home some hardware, too, as he finished at 15 under and ended up in a wild seven-way playoff for the bronze medal along with Rory McIlroy, Collin Morikawa, Paul Casey, Sebastian Munoz and C.T. Pan. Pan eventually won the third-place prize. Best PGA Tour finish is a solo thirdPereira has played in 27 PGA Tour events and made 17 cuts. His highest career finish is a solo third at the Fortinet Championship in September of 2021. It remains his lone top-10 finish. He finished tied for 17th in the AT&T Byron Nelson a week ago tuning up for Southern Hills. Playing in just his second majorPereira missed the cut in the 2019 U.S. Open at Pebble Beach. The 2022 PGA Championship marks his second start in a major championship. PGA win would be worth more than his career earningsPereira is staring down a first-place prize of $2.7 million with a win at Southern Hills. The PGA of America announced a $15 million purse and an increase in the winner’s check from $2.16 that Phil Mickelson won a year ago. The $2.7 million would eclipse his total career earnings of $2,618,115.
2020-21 Season
PGA TOUR Latinoamérica Victories (1)2016 Season
Additional Victories (3)
PLAYOFF RECORDKORN FERRY TOUR (1-1)
National TeamsPersonal
Special InterestsCURRENT YEAR HIGHLIGHTS
Career Highlights2022 Season
2021 Season Promoted to the PGA TOUR in June 2021 via the Three-Victory Promotion from the Korn Ferry Tour. Became the 12th player to earn the promotion and first since 2016. First win of the combined 2020-21 season came at the 2020 Country Club de Bogota Championship, followed by back-to-back wins at the 2021 REX Hospital Open and BMW Charity Pro-Am presented by TD SYNNEX. Became the 11th player (12th occurrence) in history to win back-to-back events on the Korn Ferry Tour. Finished the regular season at No. 2 on the Korn Ferry Tour Points List, and was No. 5 on the combined season-long points list. In 32 starts, posted three wins, a T2, and a T3.
2020 Season
2019 Season He didn’t win in his 16-tournament campaign but was remarkably consistent, with six top-10s—five of them coming consecutively. Concluded the year 10th on the Order of Merit.
2018 Season
2017 Season Made two cuts on his first five starts of the Korn Ferry Tour season. Finished the Regular Season at No. 64 on the money list. Recorded four top-25 finishes in 23 starts. Finished the Korn Ferry Tour Finals at No. 106.
2016 Season Playing his first full season as a pro he went on to finish the PGA TOUR Latinoamérica season ranked No. 3 on the Order of Merit with a record of one victory, two runner-up finishes and four other top-10s in 18 starts. During the second half of the season, he put together five top-4 finishes in a span of six starts that included a victory at the Roberto De Vicenzo Punta del Este Open Copa NEC in Uruguay. He managed to reach the top-spot of the Order of Merit for one week halfway thru October to become the youngest player ever ranked No. 1 on PGA TOUR Latinoamérica.
2015 Season
Amateur Highlights
|