PGA CHAMPIONSHIP

May 19, 2023

Mito Pereira

Oak Hill Country Club

Flash Quotes

THE MODERATOR: Mito Pereira joins us now at the 105th PGA Championship. 1-under 69 for you today. How did it go out there?

MITO PEREIRA: Pretty solid golf. Yesterday and today hit the ball pretty well. Yesterday didn't make many putts, and today on the front nine and a couple on the back nine I made some good putts, so pretty happy with the round.

It's pretty tough out there with the wind, and the course is already tough in itself, so happy with the round.

THE MODERATOR: We'll start taking some questions.

Q. Mito, what do you make of the stretch 6, 7, 8, 9? 6, I don't know if you are aware how difficult 6 is playing right now.

MITO PEREIRA: It's crazy difficult. It's 500 yards into the wind, water right. If you hit it in the rough, you are chipping out. Water around the green. I mean, it's really, really tough.

I hit a good driver, hit 4-iron, made a really good par, but it's playing really tough.

Q. And then to follow that up with 7 and 9 --

MITO PEREIRA: 7 today was at least downwind, but the pin was short left, so you couldn't really go at it. Just to play it to the middle of the green.

That stretch, 6, 7, 8, 9, it's really, really tough.

Q. What happened on 9? I saw you made bogey.

MITO PEREIRA: Just hit a little right and had to chip out.

Q. What makes that tee shot on 6 so difficult that it seems like there's just a bunch of things that could go wrong?

MITO PEREIRA: Well, there is not much room to -- there's not much room on the fairway. I mean, you have water right. You have into the wind. You have bunkers. You have rough.

If you put it in the rough, you are chipping out. So it makes it really, really tough.

Q. Is it a fair hole?

MITO PEREIRA: Today I don't know. I mean, it's playing pretty long.

Q. It was kind of like déjà vu looking up on the board and seeing your name up there again a year after what happened at Southern Hills. How did you look at coming into this week, and how do you feel about this event versus what you did last year?

MITO PEREIRA: I played solid last week on LIV, so coming into this week I had pretty -- a lot of -- I mean, not a lot, but my game feels really good. I just needed to drop a couple of putts, and I did today. So just obviously leaving behind about Southern Hills and all that. It was a year ago. Just try to play good golf.

Q. What is it about your game that seems to fit these type of difficult venues?

MITO PEREIRA: I mean, my strength for sure is tee to green. If you can do that on a major course, you are probably going to do well.

Q. What do you think is different between your game from a year ago? How have you sort of learned from the whole past year, and what's kind of been the progress for you?

MITO PEREIRA: I think I'm playing pretty similar to last year. I just know a little bit more myself and a little bit more experience. Obviously, all the moments, I mean, obviously count in Southern Hills, but all the tournaments add up a little bit and get to know yourself a little bit better and what you can do and what you can't do.

It's just more probably same game. Just a little bit more experience.

Q. Do you think playing on LIV has helped you in some ways as a player?

MITO PEREIRA: Yeah. I mean, probably the same as playing on the PGA Tour.