In the rough: Golfer takes aim at U.S. Open while helping girlfriend face rare illness
Corey Pereira didn’t expect to play in this year’s U.S. Open.
Pereira, a native of Cameron Park, roughly 30 miles east of downtown Sacramento, thought he would take some time away from the game due to a potentially life-threatening illness to his girlfriend.
Pereira didn’t even plan on trying to qualify for the tournament, but now he is preparing to tee off in his first major beginning at 2:27 p.m. Thursday in the first round of the 123rd U.S. Open at the Los Angeles Country Club.
“My coach texted me, ‘Hey, man, you should get away for a day,’” Pereira said in a phone interview with The Sacramento Bee. “It was totally on a whim. I planned on not playing and just taking most of this year off.”
Pereira, 28, stepped away from the game after his first year on the Korn Ferry Tour when his girlfriend, Leah Bertuccelli, was diagnosed with a rare form of soft-tissue cancer in October.
“At the time, they didn’t know what it was,” Pereira said. “We’ve heard every single phrase from ‘untreatable’ to ‘one in a billion, under five cases on Earth.’”
Bertuccelli was diagnosed with rhabdomyosarcoma, a cancer that develops in skeletal muscles tissues. Doctors said the case was peculiar and rare because it’s often found in adolescents, not patients in their 20s. Bertuccelli is 26.
“There was a lot of confusion at first and it showed rapid growth,” Pereira said. “It was about as bad a situation as you can imagine. So, at that point, I shut things down. I had a couple not great years performance-wise on the golf course, so I made the decision that I’ll be with Leah this year on the sideline; also work on my game and come back stronger, but also just being there for her, trying to be a good family guy and trying to see her through this.”
Bertuccelli is currently undergoing chemotherapy. After haggling with doctors, she had a session this week pushed back to Monday so she could join Pereira at the U.S. Open.
The news of Bertuccelli’s illness came months after Pereira last played on the Korn Ferry Tour. He lost his status after missing the cut in nine of 14 events after previously playing on the Mackenzie Tour in Canada. His best finish was sixth at the Lake Charles Championship in March 2022. He never finished higher than tied for 32nd thereafter before losing his status.
The U.S. Open is unique among the four majors. It allows anyone to qualify through a series of USGA qualifying events. The number of entrees this year was 10,187. Pereira was one of 45 to qualify for a chance to play this week among the stars at LACC. The field is 156 players deep.
Pereira initially made it through the first round at a course just outside Las Vegas before cementing his invite last week by shooting nine-under-par over two rounds at Brookside Country Club in Columbus, Ohio. He finished tied for third among 103 entrants. He was three strokes better than Cameron Champ, the PGA Tour golfer from Sacramento with three tour wins on his resume.
Despite the tough circumstances Bertuccelli and Pereira have faced, there has been a silver lining for Pereira that has positively impacted his golf.
“I would say it gives me a lot of perspective,” Pereira said. “It almost makes things easier on the golf course because there’s not much to react about. If you hit a bad shot or get a bad break, there are a lot worse things in the world going on. So it’s just more appreciating being out there and having the privilege to compete.
“I would say it’s a lot easier now than it was those first couple months when we were dealing with the outlook, the beginning of treatment, sitting with the doctors, looking at CAT scans. There’s no worse time in your life when you’re sitting in the room with a doctor and they have a CAT scan in their hand and you don’t know if it’s spread to vital organs or not, and they’re about to tell you. After that’s kind of passed, it’s a lot easier to go, ‘OK, here’s the treatment. Here’s the plan to get her back. Now maybe I can go dip my toes in the water golf-wise again.’”
Pereira and his parents, John and Cindy, moved to Cameron Park when he was 2 years old. He grew up playing at Cameron Park Country Club. His parents still live in a home off the first hole.
Pereira played in college at the University of Washington. There he met Bertuccelli, who is from Mount Aukum in El Dorado County. Bertuccelli was a pole vaulter on the track team. Pereira is thrilled to have her by his side during the biggest tournament of his life.
“We just try to support each other as much as possible,” Pereira said. “She knows this means a lot to me and her being here to support me, it really does mean a lot.”
In terms of getting his professional golf career back on track, Pereira doesn’t know where he would need to finish to get back on the Korn Ferry Tour. Nor is he focused on it. His goals this week, given all he and Bertuccelli have gone through, are straightforward.
“Enjoy the week, my U.S. Open debut on a hard course,” he said. “(I’ve) had some crazy life stuff, so I’m more focused on having a good week and enjoying the experience.
“But on the other hand, I’m a pro golfer. I’m here to go have a good week and I’m trying to prepare the best I can. I’m trying to make it so, hey, I’m playing in the U.S. Open once a year in the future. This is a stepping stone to that. I’m living my dream out here and I’m just so excited for this week and I’m so excited to represent Sacramento.”
