The Rocket Mortgage Classic marks a hard – yet welcome – reset for Mito Pereira. New week, new tournament, new tour. The 26-year-old Chilean won his last two events on the Korn Ferry Tour earlier this month, hitting the magic number of three developmental tour wins needed for automatic promotion to the PGA Tour.
Hello, Detroit.
“It’s in great shape, great place to be my first PGA Tour event,” Pereira said Tuesday of Detroit Golf Club. “I’m excited to play. I just want to do the best I can and try to enjoy this moment.”
Pereira claimed victories at the BMW Charity Pro-Am and REX Hospital Open earlier this month to go along with his February 2020 title at the Country Club de Bogota Championship. The Korn Ferry Tour currently is in a wrap-around super season caused by COVID-19.
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After winning the BMW Charity Pro-Am, Pereira took a few days of rest, heading back to his native Chile. Now that he’s back stateside, the key will be bringing the game that got him those wins to the big tour. He played his last two Korn Ferry Tour events in a combined 48 under par.
“I think my game is in a good point and I think it can be a really good week if I just do what I’ve been doing,” he said.
Pereira, who played collegiately at Texas Tech, doesn’t have a U.S. home base. He just crashes with good friend Joaquin Niemann, also of Chile, in his off weeks between tournaments. Asked if he has a room at Niemann’s, Pereira answered that he did.
“Everybody has,” he quipped.
Niemann is four years Pereira’s junior but they’ve known each other since they were kids. Next month, they’ll represent Chile together at the Summer Olympics in Tokyo.
“We’ve been practicing together for a long, long time with the same coach, so we’re pretty close friends,” Pereira said, referencing coach Edward Miguel.
The Rocket Mortgage Classic will be his first PGA Tour event as a member, but Pereira has played three tour events before, including the Puerto Rico Open earlier this year. He missed the cut in all three.
“Obviously I want to win, but I’ll take this more as an experience to feel good,” Pereira said of his upcoming start. “I’ll play like six events this season, so to be more prepared for next season. I’m going to take this as a prepare to be comfortable here, to know the courses. I’d say just to get the right mindset and play.”