An emotional Piller slides to 11th in final round
Roswell native closes with a 74, and a lifetime of memories at games
RIO DE JANEIRO — In tears, her head hung, Gerina Piller walked between her parents to the clubhouse.
The Roswell native slipped her hand in the hand of her stepdad, Alan Stevenson, with her mother’s hand resting on her shoulder.
In their private moment, out in public, the three never shared a word.
“It said it all,” Piller’s mother, Rita Stevenson, said of their walk together. “What would you say?”
Piller wasn’t favored to medal, and she didn’t.
But the former New Mexico individual high school state champion also wasn’t supposed to make the team, and she certainly wasn’t expected to play in the final group on the last day of Olympic golf. But she did, and she was.
So it was something of a moral gold medal for Piller — despite a 74 on Saturday’s final day of the competition that sent her spiraling into a tie for 11th at 6 under.
“It was pretty special,” said Piller, who recently moved with her husband, golfer Martin Piller, to Flower Mound, Texas. “I think I’ll cherish this week forever. I’m just taking a lot of positives from it. Yeah, it’s been a great week.”
Golf justified its place in the Olympics, overcoming the absence of PGA stars, including Jordan Spieth, Jason Day, Dustin Johnson and Rory McIlroy.
Big crowds greeted the women Saturday just as they had for the men six days earlier.
Piller began the day tied for second, minus-9, putting her in the last group with South Korea’s Inbee Park and New Zealand’s Lydia Ko. Park was only two shots up on Piller and Ko after three rounds.
Some fans wondered who the American was playing with Park and Ko.
Park, a future Hall of Famer, has 17 LPGA victories, including seven major championships. She ranks third in the world this year. Ko, who replaced Park as No. 1 in the world 10 months ago, already has 14 LPGA victories, including two majors.
Piller, ranked 13th in the world, seeks her first career LPGA victory. She has four second-place finishes.
Piller, 31, didn’t earn a berth to Rio until last month with an eighth-place finish at the U.S. Women’s Open. That put her in the top 15, earning her an automatic spot in the Olympics.
“I didn’t even think I had a chance to be here,” said Piller, who hired Mike Wright, the head golf professional at Shady Oaks Country Club in Fort Worth as her swing coach in 2013. “To come and to be in contention is all I can really ask for. I’m just going to learn from it and move on.”
Park, the tour’s best putter, ran away with the gold. She shot a 66, giving her a 16-under 268. That was five strokes better than Ko, who birdied 18 to prevent a playoff with bronze medalist Shanshan Feng of China.
American Stacy Lewis shot 66 to finish in a tie for fourth. She missed a 15-foot putt on 18 that would have gotten her into a playoff for bronze. The other American in the field, Lexi Thompson, shot a 66 to finish in a tie for 19th at 3-under.
Entering the final day tied for second, Piller had a medal on her mind. But her putter let her down the last six holes.
“Putts didn’t fall,” Piller said. “There’s kind of nothing you can do about that.”
After Piller made her par putt on 18, the tears began. There was no consoling her.
“She’s a competitor,” Alan Stevenson said. “Her life’s not defined by winning or losing or trophies or medals. At the end of the day, she’s defined by her faith and belief in God.”