- Updates from the decisive day of action at Southern Hills
- Pereira leads after third round with Fitzpatrick in frame
- Get in touch! Email Scott with your thoughts
… and there was us thinking the story that unfolded last year at Kiawah Island, when Phil Mickelson became the oldest player to win a major, couldn’t be matched this year. But look: Mito Pereira, making his PGA Championship debut, takes a three-shot lead into the final round at Southern Hills. Should the 27-year-old Chilean, the world number 100 making only his 28th start on the PGA Tour, lift the Wanamaker Trophy in a few hours, it’ll be a shock right up there with the leftfield victories of John Daly (1991), Rich Beem (2002) and Shaun Micheel (2003).
Should it be such a big surprise, though? Pereira fell one place short of medalling at the Olympics last year. On Tour, he finished third at the Fortinet Championship last September, tied 13th at the Texas Open in April, and tied for 17th at the Byron Nelson last week. He’s also fourth this season in hitting the greens in regulation. I mean, the answer to the question is obviously YES – please identify the legions tipping Pereira for glory three days ago – but it’s not as though the guy doesn’t have the chops to become a major champion. Yesterday’s staunch regrouping after his mini-collapse around the turn proves that.
