World No. 44 Pereira Joins LIV Golf

February 25 Opening Match LIV Invitational Debut

World No. 44 Mito Pereira (Chile, photo) is joining LIV Golf, supported by Saudi Arabia.

The British Telegraph reported on the 12th (local time) that "Pereira will leave the PGA Tour starting this year and compete in LIV Golf." Pereira, who is close to Joaqu?n Niemann (Chile), who moved to LIV Golf last year, was expected to join LIV Golf early on. Pereira is scheduled to participate in the first LIV Invitational 2023 tournament held in Mexico starting February 25.

Pereira is a player who has won 3 times on the Korn Ferry (second-tier) Tour and 2 times on the PGA Latin America Tour. Although he has no PGA Tour wins, he gained attention by finishing 3rd in last year's major PGA Championship. He also competed in last year's Presidents Cup, a golf international team competition between the U.S. team and the International team excluding Europe.

LIV Golf is struggling to recruit star players. Although it has announced the addition of top players comparable to Dustin Johnson, Bryson DeChambeau (both from the U.S.), and Cameron Smith (Australia), who have already joined, there has been little movement. World No. 4 Patrick Cantlay, last year's Rookie of the Year Cameron Young (both from the U.S.), and Hideki Matsuyama (Japan) have all expressed their intention to remain on the PGA Tour.