‘It hurt’ – LIV Golf star responds to Justin Thomas dig on Full Swing

In an eyebrow-raising moment in season two of Netflix’s Full Swing, Justin Thomas makes a joke at the expense of Mito Pereira at the US PGA Champions’ dinner. 

Thomas was on hosting duties as the defending champion at Oak Hill last May, a year on from beating the Chilean Pereira to win his second major title at Southern Hills.

Pereira, who has since joined the LIV Golf League, stood on the 72nd hole in Tulsa with a one-shot lead and was poised to win his own maiden major, but collapsed with a gut-wrenching double bogey to miss out on a playoff by one.

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In a cheeky swipe whilst raising a glass with his fellow past champions, Thomas said, “I personally want to have a cheers to Mito Pereira because this would not happen without him.”

The joke earned laughter around the room, but did not go down particularly well on social media. And speaking ahead of this week’s LIV Golf event in Miami, Pereira has now responded to Thomas’ comments.

It would be fair the 29-year-old wasn’t impressed with the jibe.

“Obviously it gives you a little bit of fire… I really would like to be in that position again, to beat him.”

JT’s shot at Mito in Full Swing was some serious bulletin board material. pic.twitter.com/9m0MEnD8uN

— Fore Play (@ForePlayPod) April 4, 2024

“It was not very fun for me or I think for anybody,” he told Fore Play. “I’ve seen Instagram and he’s not getting a lot of love about that. I’m not really close to him so it’s not like I’m going to go talk to him. It hurt a little bit, just not really to go at him and say something.

“It gives you a little bit of fire again… I really would like to be in that position again to beat him.”

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Pereira, who now competes on his Chilean compatriot Joaquin Niemann’s Torque GC team, earned five top-five finishes in his debut LIV season, but has struggled early on in this campaign.

Thomas, meanwhile, is heading to the Masters next week with a new caddie after his shock split with Jim ‘Bones’ Mackay.

The world no.28 has parted ways after two-and-a-half years with Mackay and it is rumoured that he will have veteran looper Matt Minister on the bag at Augusta National.

Ben Parsons joined bunkered as a Content Producer in 2023 and is the man to come to for all of the latest news, across both the professional and amateur games. Formerly of The Mirror and Press Association, he is a member at Halifax Golf Club and is a long-suffering fan of both Manchester United and the Wales rugby team.