12 Things You Didn't Know About Mito Pereira
During the 2020-21 Korn Ferry Tour season, Mito Pereira earned his PGA Tour card following three victories at the Country Club de Bogotá Championship, Rex Hospital Open and BMW Charity Pro-Am.
Since then, the Chilean has enjoyed a superb debut season on the PGA Tour, with a third place finish at the Fortinet Championship being followed by a number of top-20 placings.
In this piece, we get to know Pereira a little bit better.
12 Things You Didn't Know About Mito Pereira
1. Mito is actually Pereira's nickname - his full name is Guillermo Pereira Hinke.
2. He was born 31st March 1995, in Santiago, Chile, where he still lives now.
3. Pereira started playing golf at an early age, with his earliest memory hitting balls with a plastic golf club.
4. Mito had a promising junior career, where he finished second at the 2006 Optimist International Junior Golf Championship (boys 10-11 division), before winning the same competition in the boys 12-13 division.
5. Pereira's first win on a professional circuit, though he was still only an amateur, came on the Chilean Professional Tour's Abierto Internacional de Las Brisas de Chicureo in 2013, when he was just 17-years-old. He also has three other professional wins in Chile, with two coming in 2015 and one in 2016.
6. Pereira attended Texas Tech University for one year in 2014-15, playing college golf before deciding to turn professional in late 2015. Prior to turning pro, he reached fifth in the World Amateur Golf Ranking.
7. He is a keen fisher and motocross enthusiast, with Bubba Stewart, a professional motocross racer, his favourite athlete outside of golf.
8. Mito joined the 2016 PGA Tour Latinoamerica, where he won the Roberto De Vicenzo Punta del Este Open Copa NEC. As well as the victory, he secured two runner-up finishes and four further top-ten finishes, this meant he secured third in the Order of Merit.
9. Pereira's first win on the Korn Ferry Tour came in February 2020 at the Country Club de Bogota Championship. He then managed back-to-back victories in June 2021 at the Rex Hospital Open and BMW Charity Pro-Am.
Pereira hits a shot at the Tokyo Olympics
10. The Chilean's three wins on the Korn Ferry Tour meant he earned an instant promotion to the PGA Tour, becoming just the 12th player in 32 years to earn the automatic three-win promotion, and the first since 2016.
11. Pereira's first Major appearance came at the US Open in 2019, where he missed the cut.
12. At the Tokyo Olympics, Pereira finished in a tie for 3rd place. However, he would miss out on a bronze medal as he lost in a huge seven-man playoff.
