TULSA, Okla. — Mito Pereira is a surprise contender at the 2022 PGA Championship.
For those friendly sports wagerers among us, he’s looking like a great longshot pick, as Tipico had him at +140000 to win at Southern Hills 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 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’s some other stuff you should know about him.
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Pereira 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.
Mito Pereira of Chile plays a second shot on the fourth hole during the third round of the 2022 PGA Championship at Southern Hills Country Club. (Photo: Sam Greenwood/Getty Images)
Pereira represented his home country of Chile at 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.
Mito Pereira plays an approach shot on the 12th hole during the second round of the men’s competition at the Tokyo 2020 Olympic Games at Kasumigaseki Country Club. (Photo: Chris Trotman/Getty Images)
Pereira has played in 27 PGA Tour events and has 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. He finished tied for 17th in the AT&T Byron Nelson a week ago tuning up for Southern Hills.
Mito Pereira hits his tee shot on the first hole during the final round of the 2021 Fortinet Championship at Silverado Resort and Spa in Napa, California. (Photo: Meg Oliphant/Getty Images)
Mito Pereira missed the cut in the 2019 U.S. Open at Pebble Beach. The 2022 PGA Championship marks his second start in a major championship.
Mito Pereira reacts to his putt on the seventh green during the second round of the 2022 PGA Championship at Southern Hills Country Club in Tulsa, Oklahoma. (Photo: Christian Petersen/Getty Images)
Pereira 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.
Mito Pereira walks to the seventh green during the second round of the 2022 PGA Championship at Southern Hills Country Club. (Photo: Michael Madrid-USA TODAY Sports)
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