Gerina Piller
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Gerina Michelle Mendoza Piller (born March 29, 1985) is an American
professional golfer A professional golfer is somebody who receives payments or financial rewards in the sport of golf that are directly related to their skill or reputation. A person who earns money by teaching or playing golf is traditionally considered a "golf pr ...
, currently playing on the
LPGA Tour The Ladies Professional Golf Association (LPGA) is an American organization for female golfers. The organization is headquartered at LPGA International in Daytona Beach, Florida, and is best known for running the LPGA Tour, a series of weekly ...
. 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 Golf Channel (also verbally referred to as simply "Golf" or "NBC Golf") is an American sports television network owned by the NBC Sports Group division of NBCUniversal, a subsidiary of Comcast. Founded in Birmingham, Alabama, it is currently ba ...
reality television competition '' The Big Break''.


Childhood and amateur career

Born in
Roswell, New Mexico Roswell () is a city in and the county seat of Chaves County, New Mexico, Chaves County, New Mexico, United States. The population was 48,422 at the 2020 United States census, 2020 census, making it the List of municipalities in New Mexico, fi ...
, Gerina Mendoza attended Goddard High School and won the state golf championship in 2003 and also was an all-state volleyball player. She enrolled in at the
University of Texas at El Paso The University of Texas at El Paso (UTEP) is a public university, public research university in El Paso, Texas, United States. Founded in 1913 as the State School of Mines and Metallurgy, it is the third oldest academic component of the Univers ...
(UTEP) in 2003 where she played all four years, winning four tournaments in her senior year. She was the 2007
Conference USA Conference USA (CUSA) is a collegiate athletic conference of member institutions in the Southern and Western United States. The conference participates in the NCAA's Division I in all sports. CUSA's offices are located in Dallas, Texas. Mem ...
individual champion, Player of the Year and the UTEP Female Athlete of the Year.


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 The Epson Tour, previously known as the LPGA Futures Tour, and known for sponsorship reasons between 2006 and 2010 as the Duramed Futures Tour and between 2012 and 2021 as the Symetra Tour, is the official developmental golf tour of the LPGA Tour ...
. She attempted again to qualify for the LPGA Tour in 2008, again failing. In an 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. 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. She finished 5th on the Futures Tour money list in
2010 The year saw a multitude of natural and environmental disasters such as the 2010 Haiti earthquake, the Deepwater Horizon oil spill, and the 2010 Chile earthquake. The 2009 swine flu pandemic, swine flu pandemic which began the previous year ...
, 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 a sabbatical from the LPGA Tour in 2018 due to the birth of her first child, a son, Ajeo James Piller, born April 26, 2018.


Personal life

Mendoza married fellow professional golfer Martin Piller in January 2011. They live in
Flower Mound, Texas Flower Mound is an incorporated town located in Denton and Tarrant counties in the U.S. state of Texas. Located northwest of Dallas and northeast of Fort Worth adjacent to Grapevine Lake, the town derives its name from a prominent mound loca ...
. She is of Mexican American descent.


Results in LPGA majors

''Results not in chronological order before 2019.'' ^ The Evian Championship was added as a major in 2013 CUT = missed the half-way cut
NT = no tournament
T = tied


Summary

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


LPGA Tour career summary

* Official through 2023 season. * Includes matchplay and other events without a cut.


World ranking

Position in
Women's World Golf Rankings The Women's World Golf Rankings, also known for sponsorship reasons as the Rolex Rankings, were introduced in February 2006. They are sanctioned by 12 women's golf tours and the organisations behind them: Ladies Professional Golf Association (LPG ...
at the end of each calendar year.


Team appearances

Professional *
Solheim Cup The Solheim Cup is a biennial golf tournament for professional women golfers contested by teams representing Europe and the United States. It is named after the Norwegian- American golf club manufacturer Karsten Solheim, who was a driving forc ...
(representing the United States):
2013 2013 was the first year since 1987 to contain four unique digits (a span of 26 years). 2013 was designated as: *International Year of Water Cooperation *International Year of Quinoa Events January * January 5 – 2013 Craig, Alask ...
,
2015 2015 was designated by the United Nations as: * International Year of Light * International Year of Soil __TOC__ Events January * January 1 – Lithuania officially adopts the euro as its currency, replacing the litas, and becomes ...
(winners),
2017 2017 was designated as the International Year of Sustainable Tourism for Development by the United Nations General Assembly. Events January * January 1 – Istanbul nightclub shooting: A gunman dressed as Santa Claus opens fire at the ...
(winners) *
International Crown The Hanwha LifePlus International Crown is a biennial women's professional team golf tournament on the LPGA Tour. Eight national teams of four players each (32 players in total) participate in the match play event. Beginning in 2025, the field ...
(representing the United States):
2016 2016 was designated as: * International Year of Pulses by the sixty-eighth session of the United Nations General Assembly. * International Year of Global Understanding (IYGU) by the International Council for Science (ICSU), the Internationa ...
(winners)


Solheim Cup record


References


External links

* * * *
Gerina Piller
at USA Golf * * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Piller, Gerina American female golfers LPGA Tour golfers Solheim Cup competitors for the United States Olympic golfers for the United States Golfers at the 2016 Summer Olympics Golfers from New Mexico UTEP Miners athletes American sportspeople of Mexican descent People from Roswell, New Mexico Golfers from Plano, Texas 1985 births Living people 21st-century American sportswomen