Dean Burmester won LIV Golf Chicago last weekend after beating Jon Rahm and Jose Ballester in a three-man playoff.
Burmester birdied the extra hole to defeat the two Spaniards in arguably the most exciting finish of the 2025 season.
But what spectators might not have noticed is that there were some important results further down the leaderboard.
One player gave himself an excellent chance to avoid relegation from the LIV Golf league with his performance at Bolingbrook Golf Club.
Mito Pereira takes one step closer to avoiding LIV Golf relegation
Mito Pereira was 52nd in the LIV Golf season standings before the event in Chicago, with positions 49th and below set to be relegated.
The Torque GC player was not helping his case at all until he made five birdies on the back nine on Sunday to climb up to joint-13th.
This meant that he scored points (5.10) for the first time this season and is now only 0.42 points from safety ahead of the final event in Indianapolis this week.
“These guys are all superb players, and when you back them into a corner, each of them has a different reaction,” David Feherty reflected on Pereira’s back-nine performance.
“Mito Pereira today was just amazing over the final few holes. He did what he had to do. It’s not really in his hands anymore.
“Someone like a Chieh-Po Lee sneaks in at the last minute and steals half a point. Every point is a prisoner at this stage of the proceedings. It’s up to Mito next week.”
Pereira probably only needs to finish in the points-scoring positions (top 24) in Indianapolis to avoid relegation.
Mito Pereira reflects on impressive finish at LIV Golf Chicago
Pereira was pleased with his final round 69 (-2) at LIV Golf Chicago, although he wishes he had not made a double bogey on the 8th hole.
“Yeah, I played good,” he said. “Made a couple mistakes, just a double in there on 8, but overall made some good putts and finished obviously with four birdies in the last five holes.”
Pereira was then asked whether the pressure of facing relegation spurred him on towards the end of the day.
He responded: “More than that, I feel like I just kept it to myself. I’ve been playing really good the last couple weeks, just nothing like the score hasn’t been showing.
“But today, like on the last couple holes, I could do some good birdies and finish a little bit better.”
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