What happened on Sunday in the PGA championship reminds us of the brutal reality of competing in a major championship, it requires not only talent and skills but also a very solid mentality. A monumental achievement if it happens turns into the biggest disappointment for the player, one hole away from becoming a major champion, and all that goes away on the very final hole, and that is what differentiates between great players and average players. Like in 1999, when the French player Jean van de Velde lost the Open Championship on the 72nd hole in a dramatic way, Pereira lost the PGA Championship on the 72nd hole in a similar fashion.
Mito Pereira, the Chilean superstar golfer was holding the lead during the final round on Sunday until the 72nd hole, he entered the final hole with a one-shot lead and only needed a PAR to claim a major championship, something that would make headlines all over the world, but the unthinkable happened again, he double-bogeyed the 72nd hole and finished in the third place. That must have been very painful for him.
This incident reminds us of something similar that happened in The Open Championship in 1999, where the French golfer Jean van de Velde entered the 72nd hole with a three-shot lead, even a double bogey would win him the open championship but he triple-bogeyed the hole, and lost the championship, a major disappointment like this can shape a player’s career and even personal life and personality.
Both Pereira and Van der Velde were outside the top 100 in the official world golf ranking (OWGR), Van der Velde was ranked 152 entering The Open championship in 1999, and Pereira was ranked 100 entering the PGA Championship last week. A win by one of these two players would be the biggest in their lifetime and also the biggest surprise in majors history, that would probably have a major impact on the sport in their countries, people from both countries turned on to watch golf on these days but left disappointed with what happened in the 72nd hole of both major championships.
How Pereira will come out of this disappointment will shape his personality and future in golf, he can either take time, let it sink in, accept it and learn from it and most probably he will come out stronger after that and he might have the chance to win a major championship again or win on the PGA Tour. Or it might affect him negatively and never win on tour. Van der Velde never won a major after that, in fact, he only won one time on the European Tour in 2006, but he accepted the disappointment, learned and lived with it, Pereira has to learn to live with it as well since he cannot remove it from history.
