Gerina Michelle Mendoza Piller (born March 29, 1985) is an American professional golfer, currently playing on the
LPGA Tour
The Ladies Professional Golf Association (LPGA) is an American organization for female golfers. The organization is headquartered at the LPGA International in Daytona Beach, Florida, and is best known for running the LPGA Tour, a series of week ...
. She turned pro in 2007 following a decorated career as a collegiate golfer at the
University of Texas El Paso
The University of Texas at El Paso (UTEP) is a public research university in El Paso, Texas. It is a member of the University of Texas System. UTEP is the second-largest university in the United States to have a majority Mexican American stud ...
. In 2009, Mendoza appeared on the
Golf Channel
Golf Channel (also verbally referred to as simply 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 based out of NBC S ...
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.
She enrolled in at the
University of Texas at El Paso
The University of Texas at El Paso (UTEP) is a public research university in El Paso, Texas. It is a member of the University of Texas System. UTEP is the second-largest university in the United States to have a majority Mexican American stud ...
(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.
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 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, 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
Martin Piller (born November 14, 1985) is an American professional golfer.
Piller was born in Dallas, Texas and grew up in Duncanville, Texas. 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 locate ...
. 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 2022 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 eight women's golf tours and the organisations behind them: Ladies Professional Golf Association ( ...
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 force b ...
(representing the United States):
2013
File:2013 Events Collage V2.png, From left, clockwise: Edward Snowden becomes internationally famous for leaking classified NSA wiretapping information; Typhoon Haiyan kills over 6,000 in the Philippines and Southeast Asia; The Dhaka garment fa ...
2017
File:2017 Events Collage V2.png, From top left, clockwise: The War Against ISIS at the Battle of Mosul (2016-2017); aftermath of the Manchester Arena bombing; The Solar eclipse of August 21, 2017 ("Great American Eclipse"); North Korea tests a s ...
(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.
History
It debuted in 2014 at ...
(representing the United States):
2016
File:2016 Events Collage.png, From top left, clockwise: Bombed-out buildings in Ankara following the 2016 Turkish coup d'état attempt; the Impeachment of Dilma Rousseff, impeachment trial of Brazilian President Dilma Rousseff; Damaged houses duri ...