LIV Golf teammates Joaquin Niemann and Mito Pereira to represent Chile at 2024 Olympics in Paris
The inclusion of LIV Golf’s players in the Olympics has created many talking points, not the least of which are the two Chileans who play together in the league.
It appears that Mito Pereira will get another go at an Olympic medal now that he will be part of the 60-man field that will compete at Le Golf National starting on August 1st. Alongside his Torque GC captain Joaquin Niemann, the pair will represent Chile for the second consecutive time at an Olympics.
Mito Pereira & Joaquin Niemann to fly Chile’s flag
On Thursday, August 1st the Olympic men’s golf tournament will tee off in the suburb of Guyancourt which is just southwest of central Paris. As we know the tournament will feature some of the biggest names in golf representing some 33 countries from around the globe. Among them will be Chile’s Mito Pereira who appears to be relishing the idea now that he will be playing alongside his LIV Golf teammate and countryman, Joaquin Niemann.
“It’s always very cool to represent my country in any way possible,” Pereira said last month. “But the Olympics is probably the biggest stage to represent your country.” Interestingly, Pereira wasn’t even supposed to be playing in the Olympics as his compatriot Cristobal Del Solar was the initial choice when the 60-player field list was released by the International Golf Federation. Ultimately, Del Solar opted out in order to focus on securing a PGA Tour place and with that, Pereira was the first alternate for Chile.
“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.” As they say, ‘All’s well that ends well’ and in this case it means Pereira is back in familiar territory, having competed in the men’s golf competition at the Tokyo Olympics three years ago, after pandemic-related delays. On that occasion, he was one of seven golfers in a playoff for the bronze medal.
Along with his future Torque teammate Sebastián Muñoz of Colombia and Rory McIlroy, he was 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.” Now, it’s important to understand that despite the fact that Nieman who currently sits in second place on LIV Golf’s leaderboard will be representing the same country as Pereira, they will actually be playing against each other. “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.”