Fort Worth’s Piller earns wire-to-wire victory at Web.com event
Martin Piller of Fort Worth closed out a dominant week at the Albertsons Boise Open with his fourth career Web.com Tour victory Sunday.
Piller shot 67 in the final round at Hillcrest Country Club to finish at a tournament record 28-under 256, the second-lowest 72-hole score in Web.com Tour history.
He led the tournament from start to finish and even increased his lead each day. He shot 61 in the first round and led by three, 63 in the second round and led by four, 65 in the third round and led by five and 67 in the final round to win by six.
Jorge Fernandez-Valdes, a 22-year-old from Argentina, took second place at 22 under.
The $144,000 winner’s check moved Piller from 52nd to fourth on the money list and guaranteed him a promotion to the PGA Tour for the 2015-16 season. He played that tour in 2011 but went through significant struggles with his game that lasted until about a year ago. He didn’t even make the field in Boise last year.
“It means everything,” Piller said of the win. “The last couple years have been tough. Sometimes you think, ‘Will I ever get back to the PGA Tour? Will I ever win again? Will I ever be able to play at this level again?’ ... This kind of validates that when I play well I can be in contention.”
He plans to play the PGA Tour’s Barbasol Championship this week in Alabama. Barbasol is one of his sponsors. It will be his first PGA Tour appearance since 2011.
His wife, Gerina Piller, is on the LPGA Tour.
This story was originally published July 12, 2015 at 9:38 PM with the headline "Fort Worth’s Piller earns wire-to-wire victory at Web.com event."