When the LPGA season began, qualifying for the Olympics wasn’t on Gerina Piller’s mind.
She wanted to become a more consistent player and get her first tour victory. A boost in confidence would certainly help.
But in the last seven months, the 31-year-old American climbed into the top 15 in the Rolex Rankings and fell back out. Then on July 10 after finishing tied for eighth at the U.S. Women’s Open, she regained No. 15 in the rankings, guaranteeing her spot on the U.S. team as golf returns to the Olympics for the first time in 112 years.
“I come from a small town and it’s quite an honor to be able to represent your country,” said Piller, who is from Roswell, N.M., in a phone interview last week. “Calling my mom, I feel like that was really hard to do. Any time I talk to my mom, I feel like I cry. But it’s been awesome; the support I’ve had from every direction has been nothing but positive.”
Not worrying about whether she qualified for Rio may have helped her.
“The thing that I learned was how important the process is," Piller said. "Me wanting to go to the Olympics is definitely not going to make me qualify, especially in golf. Me wanting to make a birdie on a hole is not going to make me make a birdie. What’s going to make me make a birdie is focusing on the first shot I have, which is hitting the fairway, and kind of taking it shot by shot.”
At the U.S. Open, she was focused on playing a tough CordeValle course. “That week requires total concentration,” she said. “In a way it kind of helped. I didn’t really have time to think of anything else. It was definitely keeping my mind off the Olympics and really more on the process.”
The process allows the top 15 in the Rolex Rankings to automatically qualify for the Olympics as long as there are no more than four per country. Piller, who has eight top-10 finishes this season, joins Lexi Thompson and Stacy Lewis on the team.
Piller has already starred on the biggest stages in golf, representing her country. At last year’s Solheim Cup, she made an eight-foot putt to beat Caroline Masson, 1 up, to help the USA's huge comeback on the final day after trailing 10-6. Piller was 3-0-1 for the week.
Playing for her country is a great honor for Piller, who is married to PGA Tour player Martin Piller. She says he won’t be accompanying her to Rio because he’ll be playing, but her parents are making the trip.
"Golf is in itself an individual sport and everything is all on you," she said. "When you put on your stars and stripes, you’re representing your country and for me, it’s a very high honor. You have this mentality that America is counting on me."
She said she had questions about the Zika virus, but Donna Wilkins of the LPGA and Andy Levinson of the PGA Tour have been good about keeping players informed.
“I think being educated about it definitely has put me more at ease,” Piller said.
As an athlete growing up who played baseball and volleyball, Piller has been a big fan of the Olympics, and she remembers watching the 1996 U.S. women’s gymnastics team.
“When I think of the Olympics, I think of that,” she said. “Dominique Moceanu, Dominique Dawes, Kerri Strug, Shannon Miller. It was just awesome watching these girls compete.”
After watching the American women win gold, she fantasized of what it might be like to be an Olympian. “I knew that would never ever happen because I can’t even touch my toes,” she said with a laugh. "Now I can’t believe I’m playing golf as a living. I never thought in a million years that I would play golf. I didn’t start playing golf until I was 15. Now I’m playing golf for a living and now I get to play golf in the Olympics. So that is super cool.”
The women’s tournament in Rio begins Aug. 17 and consists of 72 holes of stroke play.
