Fort Worth’s Piller goes to final LPGA round with 2-shot lead
Fort Worth resident Gerina Piller, poised for her first LPGA Tour victory, took a Zen-like approach to all the attention Saturday at Las Colinas Country Club.
“It is a big deal, but to me it isn’t a big deal,” said Piller, the 54-hole leader at 14-under-par 199 in the Volunteers of America Texas Shootout. “The golf ball doesn’t know that I’m in the lead.
“So I just try to kind of dumb it down for myself and control the things I can do and that’s myself, and being calm and being confident and committed.”
The golf ball doesn’t know that I’m in the lead.
Gerina Piller
with a two-shot lead at the Volunteers of America Texas Shootout in IrvingPiller’s third-round 67 gave her a two-shot lead over Amy Yang and Mi Jung Hur, although on Saturday Yang shot a 65 and Hur a 66. Piller reached 4 under with a birdie on No. 10, then she closed with eight pars.
“I felt like I gave myself opportunities, hit some great shots,” Piller said. “These greens are very tricky. I don’t feel like I got by with eight pars, I feel like I could have gotten lower. So definitely a lot of confidence going into to tomorrow.”
Piller has had a 54-hole lead just once, at the 2013 CME Group Titleholders, where she finished second. Last week she was in contention at the Swinging Skirts LPGA Classic in California, but she finished in a tie for third.
I don’t feel like I got by with eight pars, I feel like I could have gotten lower. So definitely a lot of confidence going into to tomorrow.
Gerina Piller
who closed Saturday with eight consecutive pars“Last week, just because I didn’t win I still consider that a winning performance for me,” she said. “I felt like I played well, it just wasn’t good enough, you know. There’s always a coulda, shoulda, woulda, but that’s one of those things where you have to go out a hit fairways, hit greens, and get it close and make some putts.”
Really long day
Needing to play four holes early Saturday morning to complete her rain-delayed second round, Aledo resident and Alabama freshman Cheyenne Knight closed with a pair of aggravating bogeys and a 69.
“Definitely a frustrating way to end. I had it really going [Friday],” said Knight, who was 4 under on her second round before play ended. “It was kind of disappointing to stop and having to come back earlier.”
Knight shot a 1-over 72 in the third round, but her 211 score was seven shots better than the 54-hole cut.
“It was a fresh 18, I couldn’t change anything about it, and I had to focus on today,” she said. “Back nine I got a little fatigued. It’s been a long day. I was tired, I’m not gonna lie, but I was able to hold on a little bit.
“I’m so excited to make both cuts in my first LPGA tournament. I’ll just take it all in, improve on what I didn’t do so well today, and shoot a low one.”
Fast start fades
TCU alum Angela Stanford made a quick surge in the third round, opening with a birdie-eagle-birdie run to move to 5 under.
“You can make up some shots at the beginning of this course, but it gets tougher on the back,” she said.
Unfortunately, she gave most of that charge back with bogeys on two par-3 holes, and a hard-luck 6 on the par-5 18th when an attempt to reach the green in two instead found water.
“I was just trying to be aggressive and it didn’t work out, so that’s just kind of the way it goes,” said Stanford, who finished with a 69 for a 210 total. “It wasn’t the right club, the wind wasn’t blowing the way we thought it was.”
Eric Zarate: 817-390-7237, @zarate_eric
LPGA Texas Shootout
2 p.m. Sunday, Golf
This story was originally published April 30, 2016 at 9:11 PM with the headline "Fort Worth’s Piller goes to final LPGA round with 2-shot lead."