Last week, it was Germany and the Solheim Cup. This week, it will be Columbus, Ohio for the Web.com Tour stop. Golf’s first couple, Martin and Gerina Piller, are chasing each other around the world in pursuit of a double dose of success at the highest level of professional golf.
At the Solheim Cup, Martin Piller, wearing a “One Hundred Percent ’Merican” hat, broke into tears as he embraced his wife following her dramatic finish in singles. Piller’s 10-foot par putt on the final green gave her a 1-up victory over Germany’s Caroline Masson and kept the Americans alive en route to a comeback victory. Gerina had a 3-0-1 record for the week, best among the Americans along with Cristie Kerr.
“I find that my tendency when I get nervous is get a little quicker,” Piller said. “So I just try to breathe and take my time and really just focus on hitting a great putt. … I’ll never forget this putt the rest of my life. It’s just surreal. I just can’t believe I made that putt.”
Her teammates and captain believed that was the turning point.
“The most clutch putt I’ve ever seen in my life,” Stacy Lewis said. “it just sent shockwaves through our team.”
“I’ve played a ton of practice rounds with her, and I’ve always known how good she is,” U.S. Captain Juli Inkster told Golfweek’s Jeff Babineau on Monday. “But I think finally this week, she realized how good she was. It was really pretty neat to see how much she grew as a golfer and how she kind of embraced … she knew on 18 that putt was the Solheim Cup, and how she just embraced and rolled it right in the heart.”
The summer has been eventful for the Pillers. In early August, Martin won for the second time this year on the Web.com Tour, at the Digital Ally Open in Overland Park, Kansas, with Gerina on hand. The victory moved him to second on the money list and secured a higher pecking order on the 2016 PGA Tour. After missing three consecutive cuts on the Web.com Tour, Martin took last week off to support his wife in Germany. Now he’s back for the third of four Web.com Tour Finals tournaments and Gerina will watch.
Both will be in pursuit of their first victories later this year and into 2016 on the biggest stages in the game, starting Oct. 8-11 for Gerina at the Sime Darby LPGA Malaysia and the following week for Martin at the Frys.com Open on the PGA Tour. They were the first couple to make their rookie debuts on the LPGA and PGA Tour in the same year (2011) soon after getting married.
Looking ahead
After dramatic weeks in France for The Evian Championship and in Germany for the Solheim Cup, the LPGA will have the next two weeks off. Then it’s a stretch of seven tournaments over seven weeks to conclude the season, with sites including Malaysia, South Korea, Taiwan, China, Japan, Mexico, and Naples, Fla., the week before Thanksgiving.
Etc.
Four players went undefeated in the Solheim Cup: Americans Cristie Kerr, Gerina Piller (both 3-0-1) and Lexi Thompson (2-0-2) and European Melissa Reid (3-0-1). … Suzann Pettersen has a 16-11-6 record in the Solheim, the most wins among last week’s participants. … The 2017 Solheim Cup is scheduled for Des Moines (Iowa) Golf and Country Club. The 2019 site in Europe has not been announced. … Cristie Kerr is the lone American Solheim Cup team member, along with Europeans Azahara Munoz, Carlota Ciganda, Gwladys Nocera and Charley Hull, playing in this week’s French Open on the Ladies European Tour.
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