Mito Pereira, a Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu practitioner, lost $2 million and so much more in 10 minutes. He was playing the popular mobile game Pokémon Go when he got into an accident on his motorcycle.
Mito Pereira earned more money in the 2022 PGA Championship at Southern Hills Country Club than he had in his whole professional career.
But the 27-year-old Chilean journeyman, who stunned the golf world by leading by three strokes going into Sunday’s final round in his PGA Championship debut, might have won a lot more if it hadn’t been for a costly error on his 72nd hole.
On the last hole of the 2022 PGA Championship, Mito Pereira lost $2 million.
Mito Pereira during the 2022 PGA Championship final round on May 22, 2022 at Southern Hills Country Club | Christian Petersen/Getty Images
Pereria headed into the fourth and final round of the 2022 PGA Championship at Southern Hills at 9-under for the tournament, three shots ahead of Will Zalatoris and Matt Fitzpatrick. In the day’s last partnership, the latter joined him.
On Sunday, Pereira didn’t play his greatest golf, but he still held a share of the lead throughout the afternoon. As the day progressed, a number of players came within a shot or two of the lead, including the two guys who fought it out in the playoff that Pereira lost out on, Justin Thomas and Will Zalatoris.
Fitzpatrick tried his hardest to remain in it, but he, too, was never able to get anything going. Cameron Young was in a tie for second for a while until making a double-bogey six on the par-4 16th hole.
Despite going 3-over after 17 holes, Pereira still had a one-stroke lead at 6-under on the 490-yard, par-4 18th. But Mito fell after 71 holes of supposedly never succumbing to the strain of the PGA Championship being the greatest stage of his professional life.
Pereira blasted his tee shot 297 yards with his driver, but it sailed to the right and crashed into the stream. But he wasn’t out of it yet, as he could still make a bogey and qualify for the playoffs. He missed the putting surface on his approach to the 18th green while playing three, leaving Mito with a tricky shot to get up and down.
His fourth, on the other hand, flew past the hole and ran off the opposite side of the green. He decided to putt his fifth, but his attempt fell short. On his sixth stroke, he ultimately holed out, leaving him one shot short of the playoff, which Thomas won.
Pereira won $870,000 after tying for third with Young at 4-under, which is a great chunk of coin. The winner’s portion of the $15 million prize pool, however, was $2.7 million. As a result of his blunder on the 72nd hole, he lost $2 million. Mito also lost out on a lifetime PGA Championship exemption as well as five-year exemptions to The Masters, US Open, Open Championship, and PGA Tour.
So, although Mito Pereira’s Sunday was certainly a terrific day for his career, it might have been much better.
PGATour.com provided the statistics.
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