Mito Pereira

Mito is Pereira's nickname. His full name is Guillermo Pereira Hinke. His earliest golf memory is hitting balls with a plastic golf club. He is also a keen angler and motocross enthusiast, with Bubba Stewart, a professional motocross racer, his favorite athlete outside of golf. Growing up in Chile, Pereira started playing golf at three years old in Santiago. His dad played, too, and Pereira was scouted to join the prestigious IMG Academy in Florida as a teenager.
Pereira was runner-up in the Boys 10-11 division at the 2006 Optimist International Junior Golf Championships. He won the Boys 12-13 division at the 2008 Optimist International Junior Golf Championships. He was runner-up at the 2010 Junior Open at Lundin Golf Club in Fife, Scotland.
He started at the IMG Academy as a 14-year-old and was supposed to be there for three years. But after six months, he said he grew tired of golf and quit the game for two years. He decided to return to the sport as a 17-year-old, and enjoyed immediate success. Pereira won the Chilean Professional Tour's Abierto Internacional de Las Brisas de Chicureo at 17 in 2013. Shot 70-70-70 to win by one over professionals Nico Geyger and Cristian Leon.
He played one year of college golf at Texas Tech (2014-15 season) before deciding to turn pro. After turning pro was able to play in five PGA Tour Latinoamerica events, best finish of T-4th at the Hyundai-BBVA Abierto.
2016 Notes: Played in 18 events on the PGA Tour Latinoamerica, making 12 cuts with seven top-ten finishes. Won the Roberto DeVicenzo, he held the lead after the second round and won by 5 shots. In addition to becoming the first player from Chile to win on PGA Tour Latinoamerica, at the age of 21 years, 6 months, 16 days, Pereira also became the second-youngest champion in Tour history. He was runner-up at the 69 Avianca Colombia Open, 5 shots back of winner Justin Hueber. Finished 3rd at the Lexus Peru Open and was 3rd in the Order of Merit, earning $104,784. Later in the year got through Korn Ferry Tour Q-School.
2017 Korn Ferry Tour Summary: Tournaments entered - 23; Rounds Played - 63; in money - 10; top -10 Finishes - 1; Scoring Average - 71.15 (rank 104th); Season money $74,854 (rank 64th); Finals Money $3,000 (103rd), Priority rank (106th); Best finish: T-3rd at the Nashville Golf Open.
2018 Korn Ferry Tour Summary: Tournaments entered - 21; Rounds Played - 55; in money - 7; top -10 Finishes - 1; Scoring Average - 71.11 (rank 113th); Season money $37,848 (rank 112th); Best finish: T-8th at the Colombia Championship. At the end of 2018, he endured a dirt bike accident in which he broke his collar bone and had a titanium plate put in.
2019 Notes: He had to return to the PGA Tour Latinoamerica. He played in 16 events making 14 cuts with six top-ten finishes. His best finish was T-2nd at the Buenaventura Classic. He shot a final-round 73 to finish five shots back of winner Jared Wolfe. He concluded the year 10th on the Order of Merit with $54,507 in earnings.
2020/21 Korn Ferry Tour Summary: Tournaments Entered - 32; Rounds Played - 110; In Money - 23; Top-10 Finishes - 9; Scoring Average - 69.13 (rank 6th); Regular Season Money - $586,885 (rank 3rd); Priority Rank - 9. 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 the first since 2016. His 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. Became the 11th player (12th occurrence) in history to win back-to-back events on the Korn Ferry Tour. He finished the regular season 2nd on the Korn Ferry Tour Points List and 5th on the combined season-long points list.
2021 Notes: Joined the PGA Tour in July he played in 7 events making 4 cuts and had two top-ten finishes. He was T-5th at the Barbasol Championship, two shots back of the Seamus Power/J.T. Poston playoff. He was T-6th at the 3M Open, four shots back of winner Cameron Champ. Represented Chile at the Tokyo Olympic Games, finishing T-4th, Was in the seven-man playoff for the Bronze Medal, and was eliminated on the third playoff hole.
2022 Notes: Played in 27 PGA Tour events making 18 cuts with three top-ten finishes. Was 50th in the FedExCup standings. Finished 3rd at the Fortinet Championship, three shots back of winner Max Homa. It was Pereira's first career top-three finish on the PGA Tour. At the Zurich Classic of New Orleans, the team of Joaquin Niemann and Pereira withdrew at the start of the second round as Pereira hurt his back. He returned to the PGA Tour at the AT&T Byron Nelson. Held a three-shot lead entering the final round of the PGA Championship and carded a final-round 75 to finish T-3rd. He made a double-bogey-6 at the 72nd hole to miss the playoff between Justin Thomas and Will Zalatoris by a shot. He was T-7th at the Charles Schwab Challenge, four shots back of the Sam Burns/Scottie Scheffler playoff. In the FedExCup playoffs was T-42nd at the FedEx St. Jude Championship and T-54th at the BMW Championship. He played in his first Presidents Cup and had a 0-2-1 record. He lost his singles match to Collin Morikawa 3 & 2. Finished 2nd in the Dunlop Phoenix Tournament in Japan, three shots back of winner Kazuki Higa.
2023 Notes: Was T-4th at the Shriners Children's Open, four shots back of winner Tom Kim. He was T-6th at the Saudi International and T-11th at the International Series Oman. Was T=43r at the Masters.