TULSA, Okla. — Here’s the extent of Mito Pereira’s history at Major championships.
In 2019 at the U.S. Open, he missed the cut.
That’s it.
But while some of the world’s top-ranked golfers struggled to go low at the PGA Championship at Southern Hills on Friday, Pereira — a former player at Texas Tech and the world’s 100th-ranked golfer — climbed the leaderboard.
The 27-year-old shot a 6-under 64 with seven birdies and one bogey and finished round two alone in second place at 8-under par. He’ll play in Saturday’s last group out alongside Dallas resident Will Zalatoris, who holds a one-shot lead at -8.
“I’ve been hitting the ball really well, so if I can just put one day of good putting, something like this comes up,” Pereira said. “So just really happy how I ended up playing today.”
A native of Chile, Pereira played one year for Texas Tech in 2014-15 before he turned professional and was named to the All-Big 12 Championship team. He won three events on the Korn Ferry Tour in 2021 to earn a promotion to the PGA Tour.
“It was a really good experience golf-wise,” he said of his time in Lubbock. “Golf program was really good. I think it helped me a little bit with my game, mostly strategy and just to have team events.”
Scheffler misses cut
Scottie Scheffler brought a pair of impressive streaks with him to Oklahoma this week.
He’d made 14 straight cuts — the third-longest active streak on the PGA Tour — prior to the PGA Championship at Southern Hills in Tulsa, Okla. He’d also finished within the top 20 at the last six Major championships he’d played in, the last of course being his Masters Tournament victory in April.
Both were snapped on Friday.
After Scheffler opened his second round with nine consecutive pars (the first time he’d ever done that in a Major), he carded five bogeys or worse on the front nine, finished the day with a 5-over 75, the tournament at +6 and missed the cutline (+4) by two strokes.
Scheffler faced uncharacteristic struggles on the green. He made just one putt longer than four feet on Friday. He missed an eight-foot par putt on hole seven and a 6-foot-11 bogey putt on nine, and finished his round with a double bogey after a one-foot tap-in.
A four-time winner this season, Scheffler entered the tournament ranked 25th on Tour in strokes gained putting. He ranked 131st in that category on Friday.
Scheffler had 10 bogeys or worse to just four birdies through 36 holes.
Spieth bounces back
After posting a 2-over 72 in Thursday’s first round and leaving himself little room for error on Friday, Dallas native Jordan Spieth rebounded with a 1-under 69 in the second round.
At +1 on the tournament, Spieth will begin round three tied for 30th place.
He opened his round with a bogey on the first hole, but shot 2-under through his final 17. After struggling on the green in the first round, he ranked 28th in strokes gained putting on Friday and made a 13-foot-9 birdie putt on 13 to kick off his back nine.
The world’s eighth-ranked golfer, Spieth needs a PGA Championship win to complete the career grand slam.
