Torque's Pereira to compete in Paris Olympics with Chilean teammate Niemann

COLLEGE GROVE, Tenn. – Chile’s Mito Pereira is getting another chance at an Olympic medal.

The Torque GC player has been added to the 60-player field that will compete at the Paris Olympics starting August 1 at Le Golf National. He’ll join his captain Joaquin Niemann as Chile’s two men’s golfers for the second consecutive Olympics.

“It’s always very cool to represent my country in any way possible,” Pereira said Thursday on the eve of this week’s LIV Golf Nashville. “But the Olympics is probably the biggest stage to represent your country.”

Pereira will replace his countryman Cristobal Del Solar, who was on the initial field list released earlier this week by the International Golf Federation.

Del Solar, who earlier this year shot a 13-under 57 at a Korn Ferry Tour event, opted out in order to focus on chasing a PGA Tour place. Pereira was the first alternate for Chile.

Pereira said he and Del Solar discussed the possibility prior to this week, and that Del Solar confirmed his decision a few days ago.

“He wanted to get to a certain number of points because obviously he’s fighting for his PGA Tour card,” the 29-year-old Pereira said. “It’s not that one is more important than the other. Obviously trying to get to the PGA Tour is his main goal. He made that decision and I think it’s very smart to do it.”

Pereira competed in the men’s golf competition at the Tokyo Olympics three years ago, which were postponed one year due to Covid. The former Texas Tech player was one of seven golfers in a playoff for the bronze medal; future Torque teammate Sebastián Muñoz of Colombia was also in the playoff, as well as Great Britain’s Paul Casey (Crushers GC).

Pereira, Muñoz and Rory McIlroy were all eliminated on the third playoff hole, with C.T. Pan eventually winning the bronze on the fourth playoff hole.

“Three years waiting for that again,” Pereira said about the pursuit of an Olympic medal. “I’m really focused on playing my best to get the medal.

“It was really cool in Japan. I think this year is going to be even cooler. No Covid, so there’s going to be fans, and we can actually go to another sports event, so it’s going to be great.”

While he and Niemann, LIV Golf’s current individual points leader, represent the same country, the individual stroke play competition means they will be battling against each other on the leaderboard.

“We play every week here at LIV for our team, and now for our country,” Pereira said. “It’s the same, but different. … I’m really excited.”

Seven LIV Golf players are now scheduled to compete in Paris – Pereira, Niemann, Spain’s Jon Rahm (Legion XIII) and David Puig (Fireballs GC), Mexico’s Carlos Ortiz (Torque) and Abraham Ancer (Fireballs) and Poland’s Adrian Meronk (Cleeks GC).