It all hinged on match number six.
Midway through Captain Juli Inkster’s lineup was Team U.S.A’s Gerina Piller. 1-up on the 18th green, she stood over a 10-footer for par.
It was the only thing now standing between the Europeans and the Solheim Cup.
Having already won 3 ½ points in the first five matches of the day, Team Europe needed just a half point to retain the cup, the exact amount her opponent Caroline Masson would receive if Piller missed her putt.
“For some reason I looked up at the board and all I saw was 13 and a half. I’m like this is it, it’s all on me,” said Piller. “This is do or die, this is what you practice for, this is like once in a lifetime deal, here.”
The words Captain Inkster had been saying all week ran through her mind.
“Juli has been talking about playing for the girl in front of you and behind you. I just dug deep. And I really wanted to make that for my team.”
Unable to watch, Inkster knelt with her head down beside the 18th green, listening for the crowd to let her know whether Piller’s putt was good.
It was.
“Me and my coach talked about being great and getting up there. So I just told myself, Gerina, just be great, hit this putt, that’s all you can do. Just roll it and it will go in,” she said.
In what was the biggest moment of her career, Piller drained the putt to clinch the full point, ultimately contributing to the biggest comeback in the history of the Solheim Cup, winning by the narrowest margin in the event’s history, 14 ½ to 13 ½.
“Watching Gerina make that putt, that most clutch putt I’ve ever seen in my life on 18, just sent shockwaves, I think, throughout our whole team and also to Team Europe.”
It wasn’t the first time during the week that Piller’s exceptional play motivated her team. Playing alongside Brittany Lang, completing their Friday Four-Ball on Saturday morning, Piller drained a 45-footer for birdie from off the green at the par 5, 16th hole to square the match with the German duo of Sandra Gal and Caroline Masson.
“It’s nice to get those long ones going and kind of silence the crowd, and got me really pumped up. I don’t think I’ve ever given a fist pump that big in my life,” said Piller. “It went from a two point swing to now it’s a one point swing. To come out here and make a charge, I think it’s going to be huge momentum boost for our team.”
And it was. Alongside Stacy Lewis later that morning in the Foursomes, the duo crushed Anna Nordqvist and Caroline Hedwall 5&4 to win another point for Team U.S.A.
“In our team room this morning, when Gerina was out there, it was definitely a change in momentum,” said Lewis. “You could see some pep in everyone’s step. It was a late night and early morning. We needed to see some putts going in.”
Piller didn’t seem a likely suspect to have such an affect on her team given her 0-2-1 record in the playing of her first Solheim Cup in 2013. Selected as a Captain’s Pick that year, Piller had only been playing the game for 13 years, an accomplishment in and of itself to have built a game good enough to make the team.
“For me, personally, it definitely helped my golf game and my confidence to be on that kind of stage and play the golf that we did that week,” said Piller. “With me, two years ago being a rookie, you didn’t really know, you just kind of, they didn’t really tell you what it was going to be like. Because you can’t put that into words.”
The Texan came away determined to earn her way onto the next team, and got it done, qualifying with the eighth and final spot in the Solheim Cup Points Standings.
“It means a ton to me to be on this team and represent my country. I feel like as a person it has really not only helped me on the golf course but off the golf course, just with confidence, mainly. I didn’t think I could get more patriotic, but I think I am,” said Piller.
With the confidence that comes with being a star in the Solheim Cup, the possibilities are endless for Piller next season, who is still searching of her first win on the LPGA Tour.
“I try to just keep it like, what’s working for me that obviously works, so I’m going to keep doing that no matter if it’s a major, regular tournament, Solheim Cup,” said Piller. “I try to just think of it as its grass, it’s a hole and a white ball. Your ball doesn’t know it’s playing in a Solheim Cup. It does not know it’s in Europe. So I just go out there and hit it and make it in that hole. -- I feel like for me, reality is not your environment, it’s how you deal with reality.”
Reality is, Gerina Piller has arrived.
)
)
)
)
