Mito Pereira

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Mito Pereira
Personal information
Full nameGuillermo Pereira Hinke
NicknameMito
Born (1995-03-31) 31 March 1995 (age 29)
Santiago, Chile
Height6 ft 0 in (1.83 m)
Weight196 lb (89 kg; 14.0 st)
Sporting nationality Chile
ResidenceJupiter, Florida
Career
CollegeTexas Tech University
Turned professional2015
Current tour(s)LIV Golf
Former tour(s)PGA Tour
Korn Ferry Tour
PGA Tour Latinoamérica
Professional wins10
Highest ranking41 (9 October 2022)[1]
(as of 14 April 2024)
Number of wins by tour
Korn Ferry Tour3
Other7
Best results in major championships
Masters TournamentT43: 2023
PGA ChampionshipT3: 2022
U.S. OpenCUT: 2019, 2022, 2023
The Open ChampionshipCUT: 2022
Medal record
Pan American Games
Bronze medal – third place 2019 Lima Individual

Guillermo "Mito" Pereira Hinke (born 31 March 1995) is a Chilean professional golfer who plays in the LIV Golf League.[2]

Amateur career[edit]

Pereira was runner-up at the 2006 Optimist International Junior Golf Championship (boys 10-11 division), and won the 2008 Optimist International Junior Golf Championship (boys 12-13 division). He was runner-up at the 2010 Junior Open Championship at Lundin Golf Club in Fife, Scotland.[2]

In 2013, at the age of 17, he won the Chilean Professional Tour's Abierto Internacional de Las Brisas de Chicureo, shooting 70-70-70 to win by one stroke over professionals Nico Geyger and Cristián León.

Pereira attended Texas Tech University in Lubbock and played one year of college golf with the Red Raiders in 2014–15; he reached No. 5 on the World Amateur Golf Ranking in August 2015 before deciding to turn pro.[2]

Professional career[edit]

Pereira turned professional in the second half of 2015 and joined the 2016 PGA Tour Latinoamérica, where he won the Roberto De Vicenzo Punta del Este Open Copa NEC and managed to reach the top-spot of the Order of Merit, to become the youngest player ever ranked No. 1. In addition to his victory, he had two runner-up finishes and four further top-10s in 18 starts and ended the season ranked No. 3 on the Order of Merit, earning promotion to the 2017 Web.com Tour where his best finish was T3 at the Nashville Golf Open.[2]

At the 2019 U.S. Open, he qualified for his first major, but did not make the cut. At the 2019 Pan American Games, Pereira won the bronze medal in the men's individual competition.[3]

On the 2020–21 Korn Ferry Tour, he won the Country Club de Bogotá Championship in February 2020. With back to back victories at the Rex Hospital Open and BMW Charity Pro-Am in June 2021, he earned an instant promotion to the PGA Tour. He became just the 12th player in the developmental tour's 32-year history to earn the automatic three-win promotion, and the first since Wesley Bryan in 2016.[4] In August 2021, Pereira finished in a tie for 3rd place at the Olympic Games. He lost in a 7-man playoff for the bronze medal.[5]

At the 2022 PGA Championship, he entered the final round with a three-shot lead over Will Zalatoris and Matt Fitzpatrick, at 9-under-par. However, he struggled throughout the day, and reached the par-4 18th hole at Southern Hills at 6-under, with a one stroke lead over Zalatoris and Justin Thomas. Having missed his birdie putt at 17 by mere inches, he was aggressive off the tee, ultimately finding the right hand side creek, leading to a double bogey. He ended up tied for third place, as Thomas defeated Zalatoris in a playoff. Pereira was the third player over the previous 20 years to double-bogey the 72nd hole in a major and finish one shot out of a playoff; Phil Mickelson and Colin Montgomerie both did it at the 2006 U.S. Open.[6]

Pereira qualified for the International team at the 2022 Presidents Cup; he played three matches, tying one and losing two.[7]

In February 2023, it was announced that Pereira joined LIV Golf and will participate as a team member of Torque GC, alongside team captain and fellow Chilean Joaquín Niemann.[8]

Personal life[edit]

Pereira appears in the sports documentary series Full Swing, which premiered on Netflix on February 15, 2023.[9]

Amateur wins[edit]

  • 2008 Optimist International Junior Golf Championship
  • 2013 Golden Cup, Abierto Las Brisas de Santo Domingo, Abierto Las Araucarias, Los Leones Amateur, Campeonato de Chile Match Play, Abierto Las Brisas De Chicureo
  • 2014 Abierto de Marbella, Abierto de Granadilla, Abierto Las Brisas de Santo Domingo, Abierto La Posada, Campeonato Internacional de Aficionados Copa Carlos Raffo, Los Leones Amateur, Campeonato de Aficionados de Chile - Match Play

Source:[2][10]

Professional wins (10)[edit]

Korn Ferry Tour wins (3)[edit]

No. Date Tournament Winning score Margin of
victory
Runner-up
1 9 Feb 2020 Country Club de Bogotá Championship −20 (65-66-68-64=263) 2 strokes United States Ben Kohles
2 6 Jun 2021 Rex Hospital Open −21 (62-67-67-67=263) Playoff Germany Stephan Jäger
3 13 Jun 2021 BMW Charity Pro-Am −27 (65-63-66-64=258) 4 strokes United States Justin Lower

Korn Ferry Tour playoff record (1–1)

No. Year Tournament Opponent(s) Result
1 2021 Huntsville Championship France Paul Barjon, United States Billy Kennerly Barjon won with eagle on third extra hole
2 2021 Rex Hospital Open Germany Stephan Jäger Won with birdie on first extra hole

PGA Tour Latinoamérica wins (1)[edit]

No. Date Tournament Winning score Margin of
victory
Runner-up
1 16 Oct 2016 Roberto De Vicenzo Punta del Este Open Copa NEC −16 (64-67-70-63=264) 5 strokes United States Tom Whitney

TPG Tour wins (1)[edit]

No. Date Tournament Winning score Margin of
victory
Runner-up
1 25 Nov 2018 Andrés Romero Invitational −11 (71-66-68=205) 2 strokes Argentina Paulo Pinto

Chilean Tour wins (5)[edit]

No. Date Tournament Winning score Margin of
victory
Runner(s)-up
1 28 Sep 2013 Abierto Las Brisas de Chicureo
(as an amateur)
−6 (282) 1 stroke Chile Cristián León, Chile Nicolás Geyger
2 13 Sep 2015 Abierto de Marina Golf Rapel −9 (70-65=135) 4 strokes Chile Lucas Morandé
3 19 Dec 2015 Abierto del Club de Polo −9 (70-68-69=207) 4 strokes Chile Juan Cerda
4 10 Jan 2016 Abierto de Cachagua −12 (65-68-71=204) 4 strokes Chile Juan Cerda, Chile Gabriel Morgan-Birke
5 27 Jan 2019 Abierto Rocas de Santo Domingo −19 (67-64-67-71=269) 3 strokes Chile Mark Tullo

Playoff record[edit]

Other playoff record (0–1)

No. Year Tournament Opponents Result
1 2019 Pan American Games Guatemala José Toledo, Paraguay Fabrizio Zanotti Zanotti won with birdie on first extra hole

Results in major championships[edit]

Tournament 2019 2020 2021 2022 2023
Masters Tournament T43
PGA Championship T3 T18
U.S. Open CUT CUT CUT
The Open Championship NT CUT
  Top 10
  Did not play

CUT = missed the half-way cut
"T" indicates a tie for a place
NT = No tournament due to COVID-19 pandemic

Results in The Players Championship[edit]

Tournament 2022
The Players Championship CUT

CUT = missed the halfway cut

Team appearances[edit]

Amateur

Source:[10]

Professional

See also[edit]

References[edit]

  1. ^ "Week 41 2022 Ending 9 Oct 2022" (pdf). OWGR. Retrieved 10 October 2022.
  2. ^ a b c d e "Player Profile Mito Pereira". PGA Tour. Retrieved 14 June 2021.
  3. ^ "Playoffs Determine Lima Golf Medalists". AroundTheRings.com. 11 August 2019.
  4. ^ Herrington, Ryan (13 June 2021). "Mito Pereira is first Korn Ferry pro to earn PGA Tour promotion since 2016". Golf Digest. Retrieved 14 June 2021.
  5. ^ Stafford, Ali (1 August 2021). "Tokyo Olympics: Xander Schauffele wins golf gold as Rory McIlroy, Paul Casey miss out on medals". Sky Sports.
  6. ^ Schlabach, Mark (22 May 2022). "PGA Tour rookie Mito Pereira blows shot at winning first major with double-bogey on 18". ESPN. Retrieved 23 May 2022.
  7. ^ Beall, Joel (25 September 2022). "Presidents Cup 2022: Our grades for all 24 players, from an A+ for Spieth to an F for Scheffler". Golf Digest. Retrieved 27 September 2022.
  8. ^ Schlabach, Mark (15 February 2023). "Pereira joins LIV as circuit starts '23 roster reveal". ESPN. Retrieved 15 February 2023.
  9. ^ "Tee Up for 'Full Swing,' the Golf Documentary Series That Drives Plenty of Drama". Netflix Tudum. Retrieved 13 February 2023.
  10. ^ a b "Guillermo Pereira". World Amateur Golf Ranking. Retrieved 14 June 2021.

External links[edit]