Gerina Piller

Gerina Michelle Mendoza Piller (born March 29, 1985) is an American professional golfer, currently playing on the LPGA Tour. She turned pro in 2007 following a decorated career as a collegiate golfer at the University of Texas El Paso. In 2009, Mendoza appeared on the Golf Channel reality television competition The Big Break.[2]

Gerina Piller
Piller in 2013
Personal information
Full name	Gerina Michelle Mendoza Piller
Born	March 29, 1985 Roswell, New Mexico, U.S.
Height	5 ft 7 in (1.70 m)
Nationality	United States
Residence	Fort Worth, Texas[1]
Spouse	Martin Piller (m. 2011)
Children	1
Career
College	Texas-El Paso (graduated 2007)
Turned professional	2007
Current tour(s)	LPGA Tour (joined 2010)
Former tour(s)	Futures Tour (2007–10)
Best results in LPGA major championships
ANA Inspiration	T6: 2016
Women's PGA C'ship	T6: 2012
U.S. Women's Open	T5: 2019
Women's British Open	T36: 2013, 2015
Evian Championship	T9: 2016

Childhood and amateur career

Born in Roswell, New Mexico, Gerina Mendoza attended Goddard High School and won the state golf championship in 2003 and also was an all-state volleyball player.[3]

She enrolled in at the University of Texas at El Paso (UTEP) in 2003 where she played all four years, winning four tournaments in her senior year. She was the 2007 Conference USA individual champion, Player of the Year and the UTEP Female Athlete of the Year.[3][4]

Professional career

Mendoza turned pro in September 2007 and attempted to qualify that fall for the LPGA Tour. She did not succeed and played in 2008 on the Futures Tour. She attempted again to qualify for the LPGA Tour in 2008, again failing.

In airing of 2009, filmed at an unknown time, Mendoza appeared on Big Break Prince Edward Island. Six women and six men competed for a grand prize of $100,000 in cash. Contestant Derek was the only male to reach the final four and prevailed in a 2-hole elimination match with Gerina by 1 stroke.[2]

In 2009, she earned conditional status on the LPGA Tour for 2010 and played the entire season on the Duramed Futures Tour, where she recorded seven top-10 finishes and a career-best tie for second at both the iMPACT Classic and the USI Championship.[4] She finished 5th on the Futures Tour money list in 2010, earning her full playing privileges on the LPGA Tour for 2011.

She finished 68th on the LPGA official money list in 2012, retaining her full playing card for 2012. Piller improved in 2012, with two top-ten finishes and a 48th-place finish on the year-end LPGA official money list.

Piller took sabbatical from the LPGA Tour in 2018 due to the birth of her first child, a son, Ajeo James Piller, born April 26, 2018.[5][6]

Personal life

Mendoza married fellow professional golfer Martin Piller in January 2011.[7] They live in Flower Mound, Texas.[8][9] She is of Mexican American descent.[10]

Results in LPGA majors

Results not in chronological order before 2019.

Tournament	2011	2012	2013	2014	2015	2016	2017	2018	2019	2020
ANA Inspiration		CUT	T41	T11	T20	T6	T35		CUT	CUT
U.S. Women's Open		T50	T31	T63	T53	T8	T33		T5	CUT
Women's PGA Championship	CUT	T6	CUT	T13	T9	T12	T14		CUT	CUT
The Evian Championship ^			T67	69	T29	T9	T26		T44	NT
Women's British Open	CUT	CUT	T36	CUT	T36	T50	CUT		T70	CUT

^ The Evian Championship was added as a major in 2013

  Top 10

  Did not play

CUT = missed the half-way cut
NT = no tournament
T = tied

Summary

Tournament	Wins	2nd	3rd	Top-5	Top-10	Top-25	Events	Cuts made
ANA Inspiration	0	0	0	0	1	3	8	5
U.S. Women's Open	0	0	0	1	2	2	8	7
Women's PGA Championship	0	0	0	0	2	5	9	5
The Evian Championship	0	0	0	0	1	1	6	6
Women's British Open	0	0	0	0	0	0	9	4
Totals	0	0	0	1	6	11	40	27

• Most consecutive cuts made – 15 (2014 LPGA – 2017 U.S. Open)
• Longest streak of top-10s – 1 (six times)

LPGA Tour career summary

Year	Tournaments played	Cuts made*	Wins	2nd	3rd	Top 10s	Best finish	Earnings ($)	Money list rank	Scoring average	Scoring rank
2011	14	9	0	0	0	1	T10	103,322	68	72.75	61
2012	24	17	0	0	0	2	T6	258,395	48	71.41	64
2013	26	23	0	1	0	8	2	572,690	26	71.22	23
2014	26	22	0	0	1	5	T3	466,497	39	71.38	26
2015	26	22	0	2	0	6	T2	727,681	18	71.21	21
2016	23	20	0	1	2	9	T2	842,899	19	70.58	17
2017	22	21	0	0	1	5	T3	541,977	34	70.60	26
2018	Maternity leave
2019	23	14	0	0	0	2	T5	320,502	62	72.47	122
2020	14	8	0	0	0	0	T33	37,411	115	72.74	94

• Official through 2020 season.[11]

* Includes matchplay and other events without a cut.

World ranking

Position in Women's World Golf Rankings at the end of each calendar year.

Year	Ranking	Source
2008	630	[12]
2009	411	[13]
2010	334	[14]
2011	215	[15]
2012	95	[16]
2013	37	[17]
2014	40	[18]
2015	29	[19]
2016	19	[20]
2017	41	[21]
2018	184	[22]
2019	116	[23]
2020	143	[24]

Team appearances

Professional

• Solheim Cup (representing the United States): 2013, 2015 (winners), 2017 (winners)
• International Crown (representing the United States): 2016 (winners)

Solheim Cup record

Year	Total Matches	Total W–L–H	Singles W–L–H	Foursomes W–L–H	Fourballs W–L–H	Points Won	Points %
Career	11	5–4–2	2–0–1	1–2–0	2–2–1	6	54.6
2013	3	0–2–1	0–0–1 halved w/ C. Matthew	0–0–0	0–2–0 lost w/ A. Stanford 2&1 lost w/ A. Stanford 1 dn	0.5	16.7
2015	4	3–0–1	1–0–0 def. C. Masson 1 up	1–0–0 won w/ S. Lewis 5&4	1–0–1 halved w/ B.Lang won w/ S. Lewis 1 up	3.5	87.5
2017	4	2–2–0	1–0–0 def. F. Parker 4&2	0–2–0 lost w/ S. Lewis 1 dn lost w/ S. Lewis 2&1	1–0–0 won w/ S. Lewis 2&1	2	50.0

References

1. "Gerina Piller Girl's Retreat". January 27, 2015. Archived from the original on March 3, 2016.
2. "Big Break Prince Edward Island - Gerina Mendoza". The Golf Channel. Archived from the original on June 6, 2013. Retrieved July 30, 2013.
3. "UTEP Athletics official biography". University of Texas El Paso. Archived from the original on July 14, 2014. Retrieved July 30, 2013.
4. "LPGA Profile". LPGA. Retrieved July 30, 2013.
5. DiMeglio, Steve (January 2, 2018). "Gerina Piller to play in Diamond Resorts Invitational before taking time off to have baby". USA Today.
6. Meyer, Jennifer (May 1, 2018). "Welcome the Newest Addition to the Piller Family". LPGA.
7. Mendoza, Gerina; Piller, Martin (May 23, 2011). "Hearts of Texas". Sports Illustrated. Retrieved July 30, 2013.
8. "Pros Mendoza, Piller Tie the Knot in Texas". LPGA. Retrieved July 31, 2013.
9. Nichols, Bill (April 23, 2013). "Nichols: Plano couple Martin and Gerina Piller stay on course while forging pro careers". The Dallas Morning News. Retrieved July 31, 2013.
10. "Gerina Piller hits an ace off-camera in Malaysia". ESPN. October 27, 2016.
11. "Gerina Piller stats". LPGA. Retrieved December 29, 2020.
12. "Women's World Golf Rankings". December 21, 2008.
13. "Women's World Golf Rankings". December 21, 2009.
14. "Women's World Golf Rankings". December 31, 2010.
15. "Women's World Golf Rankings". December 31, 2011.
16. "Women's World Golf Rankings". December 31, 2012.
17. "Women's World Golf Rankings". December 30, 2013.
18. "Women's World Golf Rankings". December 29, 2014.
19. "Women's World Golf Rankings". December 28, 2015.
20. "Women's World Golf Rankings". December 26, 2016.
21. "Women's World Golf Rankings". December 25, 2017.
22. "Women's World Golf Rankings". December 31, 2018.
23. "Women's World Golf Rankings". December 30, 2019.
24. "Women's World Golf Rankings". December 28, 2020.

External links

• Gerina Piller at the LPGA Tour official site
• Gerina Piller at the Women's World Golf Rankings official site
• Profile at Yahoo! Sports
• Profile at UTEP official site